The New Director's Secret
by Twilight Trekky
Summary: Set after Kill Ari. Tony is curious about the new director. Why does she always exchange sad glances with Gibbs? Tony does some research and finds out something he wished he hadn't. And as always, one bad thing leads to another... JIBBS MCABBY
1. The Secret

**The New Director's Secret**

**By Twilight Trekky**

**Rating: T**

**Pairings: Jibbs and slight McAbby**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. NCIS belongs to its creators and such. I also don't own the quote I use from **_**Baby Mama**_**. Jenny screams it out, so it's in capitals. It's the perfect quote for the moment, plus it comes from a pretty good movie. Anyway...**

**A/N: I think this all started when my new cousin was born. I kept thinking about Jibbs stuff with Jenny being prego and stuff, and this generated itself out of that. This takes place after Kill Ari Part 2 and probably around or before Mind Games. Enjoy! :D **

**Hint/Note thing: Things in italics are either the movie titles or the people on the video itself. You'll understand when you get there. **

Tony looked at the screen on his computer, scanning through the words on it. He looked up at Abby, who was sitting on the railing of the staircase right behind his desk. "Anything?" he asked.

Abby shook her head. "The director is still in MTAC. So is Gibbs."

"This is so wrong," McGee said from his desk.

"What's the matter, is McChicken… chicken?" Tony asked. He started making chicken noises.

"No!" McGee said. "It's just that we shouldn't be doing this!"

"Aren't you the least bit curious about our new director, McGee?" Tony asked. "I mean, c'mon! For one thing, there's something awfully suspicious about her."

"How do you mean?"

"The looks she exchanges with Gibbs. They're so full of sorrow. I gotta know what's going on between them, or what went on."

"Is that all you're curious about?"

"Nope," Tony said. "Look at her, McGee. She's young! Well, not _young_ young, but she's young for a director! And she's a she!"

"What's wrong with her begin a woman?"

"She's the director! There haven't ever been females in the position she's in."

"There's a first time for everything," McGee pointed out.

Abby nodded. "Timmy's got a point."

"Oh really?" Tony asked. "Then how do you explain the connection between her and bossman?" When neither of them answered, he said, "Exactly!" He turned back to the computer. "According to her file, she was assigned to NCIS under one Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs in 1997." He grabbed the clicker and clicked up her file onto the plasma behind Gibbs' desk. "Abs, you better be paying close attention to that door."

"Aye-aye!" Abby said, saluting him and staring up at the MTAC door, only taking her eyes off of it to look at the plasma.

"She got promoted frequently, got her own team by 2000. Worked anti-terrorist ops since 9/11. Worked in Egypt in 2003. Then later she landed her spot here as the newly appointed Director of NCIS."

"That it?" McGee asked.

"Not at all, McGeek," Tony said. He clicked the button again, showing some pictures. "She was a cheerleader in high school, second-in-command of the squad. Really wish I could see a video of her cheering." He sighed at the fantasy he was coming up with in his head.

"Tony!" Abby yelled.

Tony looked up at the MTAC door, which was still sealed shut. He looked over at Abby, confused. "What, Abs?"

"You shouldn't be thinking about our director like that!"

Tony laughed. "Sorry, can't help it."

"Are there any videos of her?" McGee asked.

"How do you tell if there are?" Tony asked.

McGee went over to Tony's computer and clicked on a few things. "There're a couple that were uploaded by… Dr. Donald Mallard. Looks like Ducky took some videos with her in them. There are… three. One from '98 and two from '99."

"Do they have titles?"

"Yeah, uh, one sec." McGee clicked a few things on the keyboard. "Uh, there's _NCIS Fundraiser,_ which is the one from 1998. The first one from '99 is _The Paris Mission_ and the other one is… _Baby's First Video_."

"_Baby's First Video_?" Tony repeated.

"I wanna see the baby!" Abby said, smiling in delight.

McGee took the clicker from Tony and he clicked it, bringing the video up on the plasma. Tony sat down on the edge of Gibbs' desk while Abby sat in Gibbs' chair. McGee ran over to his desk and grabbed his chair, bringing it over and sitting down next to Abby. The video finally started with a view on Ducky's face.

"_Today was the day where the ultrasound would reveal whether the child was a boy or a girl_," Ducky said. "_Jethro and Jennifer just pulled up in the driveway. I thought I might make a video for them to remember the stages before the child is born starting from when they find out the gender._" He smiled and turned the camera onto what was presumably the front door. Said door then opened up and Gibbs walked through, carrying a bag in each hand.

"_Hey, Duck_," he said. "_What's with the camera_?"

"_I'll tell you later_," Ducky said.

Gibbs nodded and looked back through the door. "_Are you coming_?"

"_Yes!_" Jenny said as she walked through the door.

Tony paused the video. "Whoa, look at her stomach!"

"She's pregnant, Tony," Abby said.

"I never knew she had a kid," McGee commented.

"We did just barely meet her the other day," Abby pointed out. McGee tilted his head in a shrug, nodding at her logic.

Tony clicked the play button and the video continued.

"_Look out, steam engine coming through_," Gibbs said, chuckling.

"_Haha_," Jenny said in a very sarcastic way. "_You're so funny_."

"_When you two are done bickering, would you mind telling me what your baby's sex is_?" Ducky asked.

"_Boy_," Jenny said. She smiled and looked down at her swelling stomach, rubbing it affectionately. "_Jethro Junior_."

"_We're not naming him 'Jethro',_" Gibbs said.

"_Then how about Leroy_?" Jenny teased.

"_No way_," Gibbs said. "_Naming can come later, though. We have another few months to decide_."

"_Yeah, well, we don't want to make it a last decision,_" Jenny said. "_If it was a girl, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I already had my mind made up for a girl's name_."

"_What would that be, dare I ask_?"

"_Jethra_," Jenny said.

"That's the cutest name ever!" Abby squealed.

"_No,_" Gibbs said, snorting. "_That is the stupidest name ever._"

Abby pouted in Gibbs' chair, folding her arms over her chest. "Is not."

"_Is not!_" Jenny said. Abby smiled in an almost triumphant way.

"_Is too_!"

"_Is not!_"

"_Is too!_"

Ducky sighed, turning the camera back to face him. "_That's all for now. Probably will be all until the birth_." The screen went blank. Tony paused it.

"So Director Shepard and Gibbs had a kid?" McGee asked.

Tony nodded. "But… Gibbs never said anything about a kid. And the director's file says she has no children…"

"Miscarriage?" Abby asks.

"Isn't that too far along, though?" McGee asked. Abby nodded.

"Then maybe the director had custody of the kid," Abby mused.

"But it says she doesn't have a kid," Tony repeated.

"Maybe… she was a surrogate mother," McGee guessed.

"Then why would she be naming the kid?" Tony asked. When no one answered, he shrugged, clicking the play button. "Let's see if we get our answer from this video."

The video opened up on Ducky's face again. "_Just like I promised, it's the birth of the baby! Jennifer's in labor now, though she doesn't seem like it. I think Jethro's more frightened than she is_." He chuckled, turning the camera around and opening up a door before the view fell on Jenny, who was panting in a hospital bed. "_Is everything alright_?" Ducky asked the doctor who was in the room.

Before the doctor could respond, Jenny was screaming out, "_IT FEELS LIKE I'M SHITTING A KNIFE!_" She leaned back into the pillows.

Abby, McGee, and Tony all started laughing at that. Abby even snorted, causing them all to laugh harder.

"_Get this damn thing out of me!_" Jenny screamed. She looked at the doctor. "_Am I allowed to have alcohol yet_?"

"_No, ma'am,_" the doctor said. "_Not till after the baby is born, and that isn't advised since you'll be breastfeeding_."

"_Did you just call me 'ma'am'?_" Jenny asked. "_Do I look like a ma'am to you?_" she yelled.

"_Jen, calm down,_" Gibbs said from beside the bed where he was holding her hand and patting her forehead with a dry cloth.

"_Don't tell me to calm down_!" Jenny yelled. "_If you want calm then get your ass up and give birth to this baby! Otherwise, don't tell me to be calm!_"

Gibbs reproached from her, smiling slightly as he was amused by her attitude. Tony, Abby, and McGee were, too. None of them noticed that the present time Jenny and Gibbs were standing on the staircase behind Tony's desk, watching the video with them.

The video once again changed to show Ducky. "_Uh… let's wait till after the baby is born to continue this. Who knows what will happen with Jennifer's attitude from now till then. I wouldn't want anything too explicit on this_." He chuckled and turned off the video. The screen now showed a doctor holding a baby.

"_Congratulations on your baby boy_," he said. The camera settled itself on the baby before the doctor took it to another room.

Jenny was lying back on the hospital bed, looking wiped out. Gibbs smiled at her. "_You did good, Jen_."

She gave him a tired smile in return. "_We did good,_" she corrected. "_I think I'm ready for a nap now._" Gibbs chuckled. Jenny looked around before settling her eyes on Ducky. "_Where'd they take Jethro Junior_?"

Ducky cleared his throat. "_The doctors have to make sure that everything is alright with the baby before they give him to you._"

Jenny nodded in acknowledgement and then smiled over at Gibbs. He gave her a kiss on her forehead, then her nose, causing her to giggle.

The screen whirled around to the entrance where a doctor was standing, looking at them sadly. "_I'm sorry to tell you, this, miss, but it seems your child was born… dead_."

Abby gasped. "What?" she asked weakly. On the video, Jenny had the same reaction.

"_He didn't get enough oxygen when he was born_," the doctor explained. "_He was dead before we even started to make sure everything else was okay. I'm sorry_." The doctor's pager beeped. "_If you'll excuse me_." With that, he walked out of the room.

The screen turned to look at Jenny and Gibbs' sorrowful faces. Jenny buried her face in Gibbs' shoulder as Ducky turned the camera off. The video ended, putting up a blank screen on the plasma.

Abby wiped away a couple of tears as McGee pulls her into an embrace. She cries, hugging him back. Tony sat there, shocked, and cursing himself for ever getting curious about their new director. He stood up and turned around, stopping when he saw who was standing on the staircase behind his desk: Jenny and Gibbs themselves.

Jenny had tears in her eyes. She quickly turned and jogged up the stairs into her office, shutting it behind her. Gibbs gave the blank screen of the plasma behind his desk a heartbroken look before he went upstairs, following Jenny. Abby sniffled and pulled away from McGee, rubbing her eyes. Her make-up was now strewn across her face. She went over to the elevator and rode down to her lab. McGee grabbed his stuff, leaving as well.

Tony walked over and sat down at his desk. There was something wrong with this picture, other than the fact that Gibbs and Jenny were partners and they shouldn't have been having kids. The doctors didn't even let Jenny and Gibbs see their child before they took it away from her. On the movies, they always gave the kid to the parents after cutting the umbilical cord and tying it up, giving the baby a belly button. Tony clicked on the "internet" icon on his computer. He was going to solve this mystery if it was the last thing he did.

Gibbs glanced at Cynthia's empty desk before slowly opening up the door to Jenny's office. She was sitting on the floor in the corner by the bookcase, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Gibbs walked over and managed to sit down beside her.

"It's my fault," Jenny said after a few minutes of silence.

"Jen, how is it your fault?" Gibbs asked softly.

"It has to be my fault, Jethro," she replied. "I'm the one that was taking care of our baby for nine months. Anything I ate, he ate. Anything I did, he could feel it."

Gibbs put his arm around her shoulders. "Jen, you didn't do anything wrong. You did just as the doctors told you to do, just as Ducky advised. It's not your fault."

Jenny looked over at him, the tears starting to flow down her face. "You don't know that."

"Neither do you."

Jenny sniffled, resting her head on his shoulder. "I wonder what it would be like if he never died? What would our lives be like right now?"

"I guess we'll never know," Gibbs said.

**A/N: So that's it for the first chapter. I've thought of how to make it continue on to be longer, but that depends on the response I get from you guys! Please review and make my day! **


	2. The Hackemans

**Some quick (but IMPORTANT) notes: **

**Gibbs never told Jenny about Shannon and Kelly in this story. He knew he should, and was going to, but he never did. After the doctors told the two of them their baby was dead, their relationship started dwindling and then Jenny left him, just like she did in the show. They never spoke of the baby again until (obviously) in her office at the end of Chapter 1. Hope that clears up things for everyone!**

**This is about a month or two after the last chapter. **

**Chapter Two: The Hackemans**

"Gear up!" Gibbs called out as he walked into the bullpen, coffee cup in hand. He grabbed his SIG and badge.

"What do we got?" Tony asked as he grabbed his backpack.

"Petty Officer Hackeman's wife and son were kidnapped," Gibbs said. "McGee! Gas up the truck! Tony, call Ducky and Palmer."

"Yes boss," McGee and Tony said in unison. The two of them plus Ziva headed into the elevator, Gibbs right behind them.

"Petty Officer Roger Hackeman?" Gibbs asked the man.

"Yes, sir," Roger said. He looked at Gibbs, panic written all over his face.

"Agent Gibbs," Gibbs said, introducing himself. He shook Roger's hand. "Where were your wife and son last seen?"

"I… I don't know," Roger said. "Uh, Alison was bringing Tyler to get ice-cream after his team one their soccer game. I couldn't go because I had work to do, so I told them to take my truck while I called up a coworker to give me a lift. Ten minutes later I get an anonymous call saying that if I ever wanted to see my wife and son again, I had to go to the soccer field with $80,000 by Friday." He paused. "You're going to find them, right?"

Gibbs looked up from his notepad. He gave a short nod. "Yeah, we will." He cleared his throat. "Do you know what ice-cream place your wife was intending on taking your son?"

Roger shrugged. "There are three ice-cream places close to the soccer field. There's… Dairy Twirl, Pete & Daniel's, and… Dana's Ice-Cream. I don't know which one Alison was taking Tyler to."

"Does your son have a preference when it comes to ice-cream?"

"Uh… cotton candy. Usually on a waffle cone with rainbow jimmies. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, all three shops in the radius allow you to add jimmies to ice-cream. Two of them have cotton candy as a flavor. But only Pete & Daniel's has waffle cones," Gibbs said. "Is that all you can remember, Petty Officer?"

Roger thought for a moment. "Yeah, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs nodded. "Okay. We'll call you when we get a lead." He walked off to where Ziva and Tony were arguing. "Hey, DiNozzo, David," Gibbs said. The two shut up and looked at him. "Go over to Dairy Twirl."

"Ice-cream break, boss?" Tony asked, smiling.

Gibbs slapped the back of his head. "No, DiNozzo. Interview the workers there. Try and find out if anyone saw Alison and Tyler Hackeman there."

"Yes, boss," Tony said. He went with Ziva to the car, the two of them arguing over who was going to drive there.

Sighing, Gibbs walked over to McGee, who was finishing up with putting evidence into bags. "Hey, McGee, you finished?"

"Yeah, boss," McGee said. He stood up, zipping up the evidence bag. "Get any information from Petty Officer Hackeman?"

"We got a lead as to which ice-cream shop Alison took Tyler to. Tony and Ziva are over there now, interviewing. When we get back to NCIS, I want you to go help Abby out with all the evidence."

McGee nodded. They walked to the car and drove back to NCIS.

"Hey, boss," Tony greeted as he chucked his bag onto his chair.

"Get any witnesses?"

"Yep. Erica, one of the workers there, said that Alison and Tyler got their ice-cream and went to go sit at the picnic tables. That's the last place she saw them. Johnny, one of the other workers, saw some chick lingering in the shadows. We got a description. I was going to go and give it to Abby so she could find a match."

"Well what are you waiting for?" Gibbs asked.

"I… uh… right, I'll be back, boss," Tony said, jogging over to the elevator.

"David," Gibbs said. Ziva looked up. "Find out all you can about the Hackemans."

"Right!" Ziva said, clicking around on her computer.

Gibbs took a sip of his coffee, realizing that it was empty. He chucked the empty styrofoam cup into the trash bucket next to his desk, standing up and grabbing his keys. "I'm going for coffee."

When he returned, Tony was reading the latest issue of GSM at his desk while Ziva mocked him mercilessly about who know's what.

"What do we got?" Gibbs asked, chucking his keys onto his desk and walking over to the plasma screen in-between McGee and Tony's desks.

Ziva grabbed the clicker and clicked up a picture of Roger and Alison Hackeman. "Roger has served with the Corps for well over five years. In 1996 he was married to Alison Murphy." She clicked the button again and a photo of Tyler appeared on the screen. "Later, in 2000, they adopted Tyler. His dad died three months before he was born in a terrorist bombing over in the Middle East, and his mom died during childbirth. Alison and Roger weren't able to have kids of their own."

"Seems like a perfect life," Tony commented from his chair, looking up at the screen intently.

"Not exactly," Ziva said. She clicked the clicker and a picture of a woman popped up. "Carrie Waugh. She and Roger were high school sweethearts until he filed a restraining order against her." Ziva clicked the button and a picture of an older woman with Alison popped up. "Rebecca Murphy is Alison's mother. She had a rather strong opinion about Roger and didn't want her baby girl marrying him. Ended up with Alison in the hospital and now Roger and Alison never talk to Rebecca anymore."

"Ah, the mother-in-law," Tony said. "It's always the mother-in-law."

"I thought you said it was always the wife?" Ziva asked.

"Yes, but since the wife is the victim in this case, all signs point to the mother-in-law."

The elevator dinged and Abby came running out, McGee right behind her. "Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!"

"What is it, Abs?" Gibbs asked.

"McGee and I found a match for the woman at the ice-cream place!" Abby said, smiling and bouncing slightly.

Gibbs looked at her. "Well? Who is it?"

"Rebecca Murphy," Abby said. "It's Alison's—"

"Mom," Gibbs finished. "Yeah, I know."

Abby looked crestfallen. "How come you always know before me?"

Gibbs ignored her question. "DiNozzo—"

"Get Rebecca in here for an interview," Tony said. "On it."

"Ziva—"

"Run background checks on Rebecca and Carrie," Ziva said, going back over to her computer.

"McGee—"

McGee didn't answer right away. "Uh… I'm going to go… help Abby process some… of the evidence and see if any prints showed up…" McGee said, going with Abby to the elevator back down to her lab.

Gibbs got a phone call about an hour later. "Gibbs, yeah."

"I've got something!" Abby's voice said over the phone in her usual excited voice.

"Be right there," Gibbs replied, hanging up the phone. He went to the elevator and got in, hitting the button for Abby's floor. When he got there, he was greeted by Abby's usual music thudding in her lab. "ABBY!" he called out over the loud ruckus that she called good.

Abby turned around and, upon seeing him, turned off her music. "What's up, Gibbs?"

"You called me down here?" Gibbs asked.

"Right!" Abby said. She turned to her computer. "McGee and I found some fingerprints and matches. There was a necklace at the Pete & Daniel's that Ziva found on the ground near where Johnny said he saw the woman approach Alison and Tyler."

"And?" Gibbs asked.

McGee walked in from the back room of the lab. "Alison's prints were obviously on the necklace, but so were Carrie Waugh's."

"Bring her in, McGee," Gibbs said. He kissed Abby's cheek. "Good work, Abs."

"No Caf-Pow?" Abby asked.

"Machine's out for maintenance for the next week." He said, walking out the door.

"What!" he heard Abby practically shout out as he got onto the elevator.

"You know these two?" Gibbs asked Rebecca Murphy as he set a picture of Alison and Tyler in front of her as he sat down at his chair in the interrogation room.

She nodded. "Of course I do! That's my daughter and grandson."

Gibbs put the picture back in the file holder. "I know that."

"Then why'd you ask me?"

Gibbs ignored her question, instead asking her, "You don't like Roger, do you?"

"Not particularly," she replied. "He's just not the right kind of man for my daughter to be married to. He's with the marines, which means he might get called away and taken away from my daughter and grandson, leaving them alone and vulnerable. Alison needs someone that can be there for her when she needs it!"

Gibbs got a flashback of saying goodbye to Kelly and Shannon when he went off to serve in Desert Storm, but he quickly shrugged the memory off. "Roger is helping protect this country, which means he's keeping Alison, Tyler, and _you_ safe, not to mention the rest of the families in this country."

Rebecca shrugged. "Still doesn't mean I have to like him. But if you don't mind me asking, Agent Gibbs, what does this have to do with me?"

Gibbs ignored her question again. "Where were you this afternoon between 12:00 and 1:00, Mrs. Murphy?"

She thought for a moment. "I went to go pick up my laundry at 11:50. Left there at noon. Then I went to the fabric store next door to where I do my laundry and picked up some more yarn for the sweater I'm making for my dog. I was there till at least 1:20."

"It takes you well over an hour to get yarn?"

"Not exactly," Rebecca said. "It usually only takes half an hour to get precisely everything I need. But I ran into a friend and we caught up and talked about the times when we were young." She gave a short laugh at that.

"You have anyone that can testify?"

"My friend can," Rebecca said.

"Number," Gibbs demanded, dropping a piece of paper and pen in front of her.

She wrote down the number and handed it to him. "Why are you asking me all this?"

Gibbs ignored her once more, standing up and walking out of the room. Tony was standing outside, waiting for him.

"Boss, we've got a problem," Tony said. "Carrie Waugh won't answer her home phone. I tried her cell but it's off. I called her work and they said they hadn't seen her since she said she was going for ice-cream and—"

"Which ice-cream parlor did she say she was going to?"

"Didn't specify," Tony said. "But she did say she was going to the park after."

"There's a park next to Pete & Daniel's," Gibbs said, rushing towards the elevator. Tony was quick behind him. "DiNozzo, grab the car and bring it around front. Get McGee and Ziva."

"You think she's out in the middle of the park with Alison and Tyler?"

"The storage shed, DiNozzo!" Gibbs yelled. "There's a storage shed where maintenance keeps all the equipment!"

"Right!" Tony said.

Gibbs motioned for Ziva to kick open the door of the storage shed. She kicked it open nicely and Gibbs ran up to it, looking around for sight of anyone. He gestured for Tony and Ziva to go in and they did, sweeping through the small room. Gibbs walked over to a rug in the middle of the floor. He banged his foot in top of it and it shuddered.

"DiNozzo!" he whispered loudly. Tony turned to him. Gibbs mouthed, "Trap door." Tony nodded and motioned for Ziva and McGee to follow.

Gibbs grabbed the rug and threw it to the side. He looked at the broken lock and motioned for the other three to aim their guns while he whipped it open. There was a ladder down and he took it, looking around for any sights of human life. Tony came down next, followed by McGee and then Ziva. They walked down the thin corridor. Gibbs put his hand up as a signal to stop. He pointed at his ear, telling them to listen. Voices could be heard not too far from where they were.

"You took him away from me," a female voice, presumably Carrie, hissed. "You think you can have him now? Well you can't!" There was a loud noise and a cry of pain.

Gibbs ran into the small room at the end of the corridor, gun up and aimed at Carrie. "NCIS! Drop your weapon!"

Carrie whirled around and pointed her gun at Gibbs. "I don't think so," she said. "I can kill you just as I can kill her."

Ziva, Tony, and McGee came up beside Gibbs. Carrie laughed. "You think I'm scared?" She cried out in surprise as she fell to the floor, gun flying away as she held her shin in pain, turning to Alison. "You bitch!"

Ziva ran forward and grabbed the gun, tossing it to Tony. Carrie grabbed her leg and attempted to make her fall, but Ziva was quick and she kicked her in the face, sending Carrie into unconsciousness.

Gibbs put his gun away and ran over to Tyler while McGee went to Alison. Tyler was crying and was tied up. Gibbs couldn't help but notice how incredibly familiarly green his eyes were. Ignoring the thought, Gibbs took out a pocket knife and sliced off the rope, picking Tyler up easily and hugging him. "It's okay, Tyler. We're going to take you home."

He looked over at Alison, who was now untied and slipping out of consciousness. McGee supported one side while Tony supported the other. Ziva carried Carrie out and they headed out.

Gibbs walked up the stairs and leaned up against the railing of the catwalk next to Jenny. Alison, Tyler, and Roger were having their family reunion off to the side of the bullpen. "Another day, another case solved."

Jenny smiled. "Yep. You did good, Jethro."

He looked over at her, smirking. She had a twinkling in her eyes. Familiarly green eyes…

That's when it hit him. He stood up and jogged down the stairs towards the Hackemans.

"Jethro, where are you going?" Jenny asked, following him.

Gibbs went up to Roger. "Excuse me, Petty Officer Hackeman," he said. Roger looked up at him, tears of joy in his eyes.

"Thank you so much, Agent Gibbs," he said, smiling. "I don't know how I could repay you for this."

Gibbs grabbed his arm, though not too tightly. "Could I have a word?"

Roger looked at his wife and kid. Alison nodded and started straightening up Tyler's jacket. Roger walked over with Gibbs a few feet from them. Jenny came up beside Gibbs. "What do you need, Agent Gibbs?"

Gibbs looked at Jenny before looking back at Roger. "Where did you adopt your son?"

Roger thought for a moment. "At the adoption center in Paris when I was stationed there."

"Jethro, where are you going with this?" Jenny asked.

Gibbs ignored her, staring Roger in the eye. "When is Tyler's birthday?"

"July 17, 1999."

Gibbs heard Jenny intake a sharp breath. He looked back over at Tyler.

"Why the curiosity in my son, Agent Gibbs?" Roger asked.

He looked back over at Alison fixing up Tyler. All three of them were happy as a family together. Gibbs didn't want to take that away from them. He shook his head. "No reason."

Roger nodded and walked back over to Alison and Tyler.

Jenny turned Gibbs around to face her. "Jethro? Is it…"

He nodded.

Tony watched as Roger and Alison hugged their son— or should he say adopted son— tightly. He remembered he had some candy stashed in his drawer. He opened it up the drawer and took out a lollipop.

"Tyler," he said. The boy looked at him. Tony waved his lollipop. "You want this?"

Tyler an over and took it from him. "Thank you, Agent DiNozzo," he said.

"You're a brave boy," Tony said. "You deserve it." It was the truth; Tyler was only six or so years old. He was young and after what he had just been through, he deserved more than a lollipop.

Tyler smiled up at him, making eye contact with Tony. Tony looked at his eyes and wondered how they were so familiar to him. Before he could guess, Tyler went over to Alison and Roger, and with their final thank-you's and goodbye's, the three left.

Tony walked over to McGee. "Did you get a good look at Tyler's eyes?" he asked.

McGee thought for a moment. "Uh… green, right?"

"Yes, but don't they seem familiar?" Tony asked.

McGee's eyes widened. "Oh my God…"

"Exactly," Tony said. "The doctors lied to the director and Gibbs. Their boy is still alive."

**A/N: Ooh… what now? You'll have to wait until next chapter to find out. Thanks so much for all the reviews/favorites/alerts! I never expected this to be such a hit with you guys! Please review now! **


	3. The Death of a Friend

**This chapter takes place about two weeks after the last chapter. Things will be better explained in here. And I know I said this chapter would be happier, but it turns out NEXT chapter will be happier. This one's sad. **

**WARNING: This chapter contains some violence, though nothing too graphic. I'm pretty much positive it's still under the 'T' rating, but please tell me if it's not.**

**Chapter Three: The Death of a Friend**

"So what do we have this time, Boss?" Tony asked as they walked to the elevators, a new case on their hands.

"Child abuse," Gibbs said.

"Ouch," Tony said.

"It gets better," Gibbs said sarcastically. "The father's the one doing the abusing, and he's a marine."

"Why do people do it?"

Ziva looked at Tony. "Don't we all wish we had that answer?"

Gibbs and his team walked over to the picnic table on the children's playground where they were meeting the child and his mother. They were surprised to see the familiar faces of Alison and Tyler Hackeman.

"Mrs. Hackeman!" Gibbs said in surprise. "Tyler!"

"Agent Gibbs, I'm so glad you came," Alison said.

Gibbs sat down across from her. Tony went and sat down next to Tyler while Ziva and McGee sat on either side of Gibbs. Gibbs looked at Alison. "Are you hear about the child abuse?"

Alison looked at Tyler and nodded at him. He held out his arm and Alison pulled up the sleeve of his jacket slowly, revealing purple, black, and blue bruises everywhere, amongst the occasional cuts. Gibbs sighed in frustration. It wasn't right to do this to anyone, let alone a child. Alison pulled Tyler's sleeve back down.

"It started about a week after you rescued Tyler and me," Alison explained. "At first, it was little things like slapping him for not behaving. But a couple of days ago, things started to get serious." She was holding back tears now. "I'm worried, Agent Gibbs. I love Roger but I can't live on like this, knowing that he's harming Tyler! He won't stop doing it! He said to me that if I told anyone about this, he would kill me. Something's happened to him, Agent Gibbs! This isn't the same Roger that I married!"

"Mrs. Hackeman, I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep your ch— Tyler, safe," Gibbs said.

This was taking a larger toll on him than it normally would. Of course, it always hit him hard to hear that children were being abused, but when he knew that it was his own flesh and blood being hurt, he couldn't help but want to beat the bastard just to show him what it's like.

"Thank you, Agent Gibbs," Alison said, smiling at him as a couple of tears broke through and trickled down her cheeks.

"Do you mind bringing him over to NCIS and having our medical examiner take a look over him?" Gibbs asked. "Just to make sure there's no permanent damage done?"

"Of course," Alison said. She stood up. "C'mon, Tyler."

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"We're going back to NCIS. We were there a couple weeks ago, remember?"

Tyler nodded and pointed at Tony. "He gave me a lollipop there."

Tony laughed. "I sure did, bud. I'm sure you can have another one, too."

Tyler smiled at him.

Alison looked at Gibbs, lowering her voice. "I don't think Tyler really knows what's going on. He thinks it was just his punishment for being bad."

Gibbs nodded in understanding. They all walked back to their cars and drove to NCIS. Gibbs directed them to autopsy.

"Wait here," he said at the door. Alison nodded as Gibbs walked through the door.

Ducky turned around from his position over a dead man's body. "Oh, what a pleasant surprise, Jethro!" he said. He gestured to the dead body who's chest cavity was open. "Poor man died of lung cancer."

"Duck, put the body away," Gibbs said.

"Excuse me?" Ducky asked.

"I need you to put the body away!" Gibbs said sternly. The look he gave Ducky made Ducky understand better.

"Right, of course," Ducky said. "Does putting it in a body bag suit you?"

"Whatever floats your boat, Duck," Gibbs replied. "I just need the body hidden from view."

With Gibbs' help, Ducky put the body he was working on in a body bag and pushed off to the far table at the end of the lab. Gibbs went to the door and it opened. "You can come in now."

Alison and Tyler walked in. Tyler looked around curiously while Alison shivered a little at the cold.

"Hello!" Ducky said, smiling cheerfully. He held out his hand. "I'm Dr. Donald Mallard, but please, call me Ducky."

Alison took his hand and shook it, smiling back at him. "Alison," she introduced. She looked at her son. "And this is Tyler."

"Hello, Tyler," Ducky said, bending down to smile at the six-year-old.

"Do you have any candy?" Tyler asked.

"Tyler!" Alison scolded, though she smiled in amusement.

Ducky chuckled. "It's okay. I think I have some M&M's stored away somewhere." He walked over to a cabinet and found a container. He opened it up and chuckled again. "Aha! I found them." He handed over a package of M&M's to Tyler. "There you go."

"Thank you," Tyler said.

"You're welcome," Ducky replied.

"Duck, a word," Gibbs said. Ducky walked over to the corner of autopsy, far enough that they could talk without being overheard by Tyler. "I need you to check him over. Make sure nothing too drastic is wrong with him."

"What happened to the boy?"

"Remember a couple of weeks ago, we had the case where Petty Officer Hackeman's wife and son were kidnapped?"

Ducky looked over at Tyler. "Is he hurt from it?"

"No, but Petty Officer Hackeman is abusing him now," Gibbs said. "Just make sure he's not going to have permanent damage."

Ducky nodded and the two walked over to Tyler and Alison. He looked at Alison and she nodded, turning to her son. "Tyler, do you remember going to those doctor appointments?"

"When I got the shots?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah," Alison said. "Do you remember how the nurse came in and checked over a few things before the doctor came in to give you the shots?" Tyler nodded. "Well Dr. Mallard's going to check over you like the nurses did at the hospital, okay?" Tyler nodded again. Alison smiled and carefully lifted him up onto the table.

Ducky smiled at him and began his examination. When he was finished, he called Alison and Gibbs over to the same corner he and Gibbs had talked in earlier. Tyler was busy eating the last of his M&M's.

"There won't be any permanent damage," Ducky said. Alison sighed in relief. "But," Ducky added, "he will be very sore for the next few weeks. I believe he pulled a muscle in his arm, and how that happened I don't want to know. The bruises will take a while to disappear, assuming that the abuse stops. If it doesn't…" he trailed off.

"What?" Alison asked. "What will happen if Roger doesn't stop?"

Ducky looked at her sorrowfully. "His body can't take much more harm. If the beating continues, he could very well suffer permanent damage or…"

"Or what?" Alison asked, knowing the answer already.

"Or he'll die."

"Please, Agent Gibbs, can he stay with someone from here tonight?" Alison asked. "I don't want Roger anywhere near him."

Gibbs nodded. "He can stay with me."

"He most certainly will not, Agent Gibbs," Jenny said, walking up to him. "He can stay with Abby."

"You have a problem with him staying with me, Director?"

Jenny looked at him. "You know what the problem is, Jethro." Alison looked between them, noticing the tension. Jenny turned to her. "Mrs. Hackeman, if you would like, I can show you down to Abby. She's a wonderful babysitter."

Alison smiled. "As long as Tyler's safe for the night, I'm happy."

Jenny smiled back before glaring at Jethro. She guided Alison and Tyler to the elevators. When they got down to Abby's lab, Tyler stopped in his tracks at the door, staring wide-eyed as the forensics specialist, who looked as though she was doing some sort of yoga in the middle of her lab with candles all around her. She had Bert in her arms, and when she went down, Bert farted. Tyler laughed. Abby looked up, immediately standing up.

"Director!" she greeted, saluting Jenny.

"At ease, Abby," Jenny joked. Abby smiled at her, then looked at Alison and Tyler. "Hi!"

Alison gave a nervous wave. Tyler just smiled up at her.

"Abby, this is Alison and Tyler Hackeman," Jenny said. "Remember, the case a few weeks ago?"

"Of course I remember, Director," Abby said, smiling at Alison and Tyler.

"I'm Alison, nice to meet you," Alison said, holding out her hand. Abby ignored it and instead stepped forward and hugged her, making Bert fart and Tyler laugh.

"I'm so glad to see that you're still safe after all of it," Abby said. She pulled away from the hug and looked down at Tyler. "Hi, little guy!"

He smiled at her, hugging her leg. She giggled, ruffling his hair and noticing a bruise on his neck. She looked up at Jenny.

"That's why we're here, Abby," Jenny said. "Is it okay if Tyler stays with you tonight?"

Abby nodded. "Of course! I'd be more than glad to, Director."

Jenny smiled. "Good."

Alison bent down next to her son. "Tyler, you're going to stay with Abby tonight, okay?"

"Why can't I stay with you, Mom?" he asked.

"Because I… have to go somewhere and Daddy is… working," Alison lied. "Besides, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with Abby, right?"

"Right," Abby and Tyler said in unison.

Alison smiled. She then looked at Tyler. "Oh, you have some chocolate left over on your face," she said. She licked her finger and rubbed off the chocolate before giving him a quick kiss. "I love you, Tyler."

"I love you, too, Mommy," Tyler said. The two embraced.

Jenny watched them, her heart aching to be in Alison's position. She knew that was impossible at this point, though. Tyler had adopted Alison as his real mother, because he never got a chance to even see Jenny. Abby looked over at her boss's face and put her hand on Jenny's shoulder comfortingly. Jenny looked over at her and smiled sadly.

Alison stood up. "I'd better be going home now. Love you, Ty."

"Love you," Tyler said, receiving one last kiss from Alison before Alison walked out of the lab. Tyler turned to Abby. "You got candy?"

Alison turned off her car, grabbing her purse and keys before getting stepping out of her vehicle. She noticed the lights onside and knew Roger was home. She sighed, hoping he wouldn't figure out that she had told someone about what he was doing to their son. She opened up the front door and saw Roger on the couch, a bottle of beer in one hand and the TV remote in the other.

"Hey, honey," Alison said, smiling at him. She took off her shoes and hung up her jacket.

"Where's Tyler?" Roger questioned.

"He's over at a friend's house," Alison lied.

"Are you insane?" Roger hissed, standing up. "What if his friend's parents find his bruises?"

"Then you'll be in a lot of trouble," Alison said grimly, pushing past him and heading into the kitchen.

Roger grabbed her arm and threw her onto the couch before slapping her across the face. She cried out in pain, looking up at him in horror.

"Don't speak to me like that!" Roger yelled. "You know damn well I do what I have to!"

"Do what you have to?" Alison repeated, her voice rising as well. "There is absolutely no reason for you to abusing our son!"

"How do you know he doesn't deserve it, huh?"

"No child deserves to be abused by _any_one," Alison hissed, standing up and glaring at him firmly, her jaw set.

Roger glared right back at her. "You told the authorities, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?" He yelled, shoving her back on the couch. He pulled a knife out of his pocket and held it to her throat. "I told you bad things would happen if you told those authorities." He pulled back the knife before placing it against her wrist, slicing the skin there.

"You thought I wouldn't tell them?" Alison asked, gritting her teeth at the pain in her wrist. "I want Tyler to be able to live a happy life! He doesn't need to be abused by you!"

Roger moved so his face was mere centimeters from her. "You'll pay for this, bitch," he whispered. He drew the knife up in the air before it plunged into her body.

"Director Shepard's office, Cynthia speaking," Cynthia said as she answered the phone.

"We need to speak to Director Shepard immediately!" the man on the end of the phone said. "This is an emergency!"

"One moment," Cynthia said. She hit a couple buttons on her phone, sending the call over to the director.

Jenny answered her phone when it started ringing. "Shepard," she said.

"Ma'am, we need you at Bethesda hospital," the man on the other end said. "A woman just came in, she's in trauma now, but she asked for you and an Agent Gibbs."

"Who is it?" Jenny asked, trying not to let her panic show in her voice.

"We ID'd her as Alison Hackeman, ma'am," the man said.

"I'll be there as soon as possible," Jenny said, hanging up the phone. She grabbed her jacket and ran out of her room. "Cynthia, cancel any other meetings I have today."

"Yes, ma'am," Cynthia said.

Jenny ran down the stairs. "Jethro!" she called out. He looked up. "C'mon, we're leaving," she said.

Gibbs got up following her out, leaving the bewildered team behind. "What's going on?" he asked when they got into the elevator.

"Alison Hackeman's in the trauma section at Bethesda," she said.

"What happened?" Gibbs growled.

Jenny shrugged. "I don't know, the doctor didn't say. But whatever it is, I'm pretty sure Roger's connected to it."

Jenny looked into the room as the doctor came out. "Is she okay?" Jenny asked.

The doctor looked at her. "I don't know. Neighbor found her this morning in her house, all bashed up. We've done all we can for the moment. It's up to her whether or not she makes it through now. I'm sorry."

"Can we see her?" Jenny asked.

The doctor nodded. "As long as it's just the two of you, you should be fine." He walked over to the customer help desk, signing a couple of papers.

Jenny and Gibbs entered the room quietly. Both of them looked shocked at the state Alison was in. She had cuts and bruises all over her, a sling on her arm, and a bandage around her waist.

"Oh, God," Jenny whispered, walking over to stand beside the bed.

Alison stirred. "Director?" she asked.

Jenny managed to give her a small smile. "Hey, Alison. How are you feeling?"

"Like crap," Alison said. She looked over at Gibbs and smiled. He gave her a small smile back.

"What happened?" Gibbs asked.

"I went home last night after dropping Tyler off with Abby. Oh, no, Tyler— is he okay?"

"He's fine," Jenny assured her. "He's at NCIS right now in Abby's lab."

Alison sighed with relief, grimacing in pain. "Roger wasn't acting like himself. He started yelling at me, and he took out a knife and sliced my wrist. Then he drove the knife into my stomach. He continued to beat me, slicing the knife at me and punching me. I… I knew it wasn't him. I mean, it was him, but it wasn't really him. I think there's something wrong with him," she said.

"We'll find out if there is," Jenny said. "You just hang in there, okay?"

Alison shook her head. "I can't."

"Yes, you can."

"No," Alison said. "It's been hell just staying alive long enough to talk to you."

"Alison—"

"Promise me something," Alison said. "Both of you."

Jenny and Gibbs exchanged a glance before they both nodded.

"You'll take good care of your son," Alison said. "Please, just promise me that."

Jenny looked startled, and Gibbs' face wasn't much different. "How'd you—"

"Your eyes," Alison said, smiling. "I'd recognize those eyes anywhere. I've raised Tyler since he was a baby. You've got the same eyes as him."

Jenny smiled. "That's what they're all saying. But, how did you know Jethro was the—"

"The way you two look at each other," Alison said. "It's the way Roger and I used to look at each other. You may seem like two average people, but your eyes deceive your true feelings."

Gibbs stole a glance at Jenny, noticing the twinkle in her eyes and chuckling as a blush crept up her neck.

"Right there!" Alison said. "You guys had that look again." She laughed, but then her laughter started to turn into coughing.

"Alison!" Jenny said.

Gibbs ran into the hall, shouting for a doctor. A couple came in, including the one that Gibbs and Jenny were talking to a couple of minutes ago. Jenny backed away from Alison's body, which had gone limp. The beeping on the heart monitor ceased into one long, never ending beep.

"She's going into b-fib!" the doctor yelled. "Charging the paddles!" He poured the glue-ish substance on the paddles of the defibrillator and rubbed them together. "Clear!" He pressed the defibrillator paddles to Alison's chest and thumped it, causing her back to arch. The long beep continued. "Charging again…. clear!" Nothing happened and the doctor sighed. "There's nothing more we can do. I'm calling it. Note the time of death at 8:04 a.m." The doctor turned to Jenny and Gibbs. "I'm sorry." He and the other doctors left, leaving Jenny and Gibbs to mourn by themselves.

Jenny stepped forward towards the edge of the bed. "Alison," she whispered before her wall finally broke and she started crying. Gibbs came up behind her, wrapping her into a comforting embrace.

Jenny pulled away, looking at Gibbs with angry eyes. "We have to go find that bastard _now_."

**A/N: I'm about to cry. I made the Alison character with no real emotion about her and now I have tears at my eyes. Wow. I'm so emotional. Anyway, getting off of that topic, thanks for all the reviews! And trust me, there's a reason behind Roger. It'll be explained in the next chapter. All questions will be answered. Please review now! :D **


	4. The Truth

**Okay, I'd like to say a special thank you to **Blessedgrace** for pointing out that there wasn't any markers between scenes. I put them there, but then they didn't show up. Sorry. I've resorted to using X's instead of my other stuff. **

**Hopefully, all answers will be revealed in this chapter. If not, feel free to ask and I'll add them into the next chapter. **

**Chapter Four: The Truth**

Tony sat at his desk, completely confused. None of it made sense. Why would a decorated marine worry so much about his wife and son, then a week later start abusing his child and end up killing his wife? There was something wrong with that. Not to mention the other problem of Tyler being Jenny and Gibbs' kid. How come the doctors said he was dead? What was going on here?

The elevator dinged and Tony looked up to see Roger walk through the doors. "Uh, Boss," Tony said.

Gibbs looked up to the elevators and his face got that angry look on it. He stood up and walked towards Roger, who had panic written on his face.

"Agent Gibbs, I think Alison and Tyler have been kidnapped again!" Roger said. "Neither of them were in the house this morning!"

Gibbs pulled his right hand back before swinging it around, punching Roger's nose. Roger fell back, his hand covering his nose.

"Whoa, bossman can pack a mean punch," Tony said.

"You're just learning this, Tony?" Ziva asked, standing up and going to stand behind Gibbs with her gun drawn and pointed at Roger. Tony and McGee followed suit.

"What was that for?" Roger asked, looking at the blood that was now on his hand from his broken nose.

Gibbs picked him up by the lapels of his shirt, slamming him against the wall. "You know damn well what it was for, you son of a bitch!"

"Look, I just came to see if you knew where Alison and Tyler were here and safe," Roger said.

"Tyler's safe. Can't say the same for Alison," Gibbs hissed.

"What happened to her?"

"You killed her!" Gibbs shouted.

Jenny came out of her office, disturbed by all the shouting. "Agent Gibbs!" she reprimanded. "What is going on?" She noticed Roger. "Bring him into interrogation," she said, changing her tone. She walked down the stairs and walked up to Roger, glaring at him. There was blood down the front of his shirt from his nose now.

"What is going on here?" Roger asked. "I swear, I didn't kill Alison! I love her! Why would I kill her?"

"You tell me," Gibbs said, shoving him into the elevator. Jenny and the team followed, all of them managing to squeeze into the lift.

"What makes you think I would kill my wife?" Roger asked.

"She told us that you were the one that put her in the hospital about a minute before she died," Jenny said, her jaw set.

Roger looked at her, confused. "Why was she in the hospital?"

"Because you beat the living shit out of her!"

"I told you, I didn't do anything to harm her! I would never hurt her!"

Gibbs glared at him. The elevator doors opened up and they all walked out. Ziva, Tony, and McGee walked into the observation deck while Jenny followed Gibbs and Roger into the interrogation room. Gibbs thrust Roger into the chair.

"Why'd you do it?" he growled.

"I told you!" Roger said. "I didn't do anything."

Jenny pulled a small flash drive looking item out of her pocket and plugged it into the plasma. She grabbed the clicker and turned on the plasma, showing the dead body of Alison. Roger looked at it in horror.

"What kind of monster would do such a thing?" he asked.

"YOU!" Gibbs shouted, slamming his hand on the table.

Roger jumped. "I'm telling the truth, Agent Gibbs. I didn't harm anyone."

Gibbs glared at him, knowing that this was going to take a while.

**XXX**

Tony looked at the paper in his hands. "We've got a warrant for his house."

"Search it," Jenny said. "I'm going out for coffee."

"Gibbs still with Roger?" McGee asked.

Jenny nodded. "Roger is still saying that he didn't do anything."

"That bastard," Ziva muttered. "Does he think he can get away with it?"

Jenny shrugged. "Who knows." She picked up her purse. "Call me when you find something."

"Sure thing, Director," Tony said. They watched as Jenny left. Tony looked at his two fellow team members. "Let's go search his house now."

**XXX**

"Hey, Tony, come over here," Ziva said. Tony walked over to where she was taking pictures of a glass with a small amount of an auburn looking liquid in it. "Looks like Roger's been drinking." She bent forward and sniffed it, repelled by the smell. "Ugh, that's disgusting."

"What is it?" Tony asked.

"Smells like a beer of some sort, but there's something else in it," Ziva replied.

"Bag it."

Ziva nodded and took one last picture before grabbing an evidence bag and putting the glass in it.

McGee came up to them. "There's nothing here," he said. "It looks like nothing ever happened, except for the blood on the couch, but we already knew about that." He looked at the bag in Ziva's hands. "What's that?"

She shrugged, handing it over to him. "Don't know. I'm sure Abby and her 'babies' will find out." She smiled at the name that their forensics scientist had given the machines in her lab.

"We've done all we can here," Tony said. "Let's pack it up and get this stuff back to Abby."

"She's not my girlfriend!" McGee said.

"Don't deny the truth, McGee," Ziva said, smirking at him.

McGee glared at them both. "If Gibbs hears about this—"

"You'll get the head-slapping of a lifetime, we know," Tony said. He made sweeping gesture with his hand. "Now go! Find out all that geeky stuff!"

McGee sighed and took the elevator to Abby's lab. Tony chuckled as he walked away. "Oh, that geek never ceases to amaze me."

**XXX**

Gibbs looked over at the door to the observation room. Jenny came in with two coffees and closed the door behind her. She handed him one of the coffees and took a sip out of the other.

"He confess yet?" Jenny asked.

He looked over at her with a 'yeah, right' expression on his face. She noticed his look and sighed.

"Says he can't even remember last night," Gibbs said.

"Bastard," Jenny muttered. Gibbs gave her a look while sipping his coffee.

"That man doesn't deserve to go to jail."

"I'm not going to let him walk, Jethro! Are you insane?"

"Jen, do you want him in jail?" Gibbs asked. "He abused Tyler. He killed Alison. He deserves to be dead! Not behind bars!" He gave her his famous look. "That's _our_ son he abused, Jen."

Before Jenny could respond, her cellphone rang. She took it out of her pocket and answered it. "Shepard… alright, Abby, we'll be right down." She clicked the end button and put her cell back in her pocket. "Abby's got something."

Gibbs gave Roger a glare through the two way mirror and walked out with Jenny down to Abby's lab. Neither of them spoke on the way there. Gibbs quickly stopped to grab a Caf-Pow from the machine.

"What've you got, Abs?" Gibbs asked when he and Jenny got there. He noticed Tyler was sleeping in the back office of the lab. Turning back to Abby, he set the Caf-Pow beside her.

"Petty Officer Roger Hackeman didn't kill Alison or abuse Tyler, at least not purposely," Abby said. At Gibbs' and Jenny's confused looks, she turned and grabbed the glass that Ziva had found with the mysterious alcohol. "He was poisoned."

"Poisoned?" Jenny repeated.

Abby nodded. "There were traces of lysergic acid diethyl-amide in the beer he was drinking."

Gibbs and Jenny both stared at her, not knowing what she just said.

"Uh, LSD," McGee translated. "It's a hallucinogenic drug."

"So he was hallucinating?" Gibbs asked.

Abby and McGee both nodded.

"But what was he hallucinating?" Jenny asked. "It had to be something bad for him to beat Tyler and Alison."

Gibbs sighed, turning around. "That's what we're going to ask Roger."

**XXX**

"Have you been experiencing anything unusual lately?" Tony asked Roger.

"What do you mean?" Roger asked.

"Anything abnormal happen to you in the past couple of weeks?

Roger thought for a moment. "Yeah, actually. You see, there's a security system on my house, but it hasn't been working lately. I was going to go tell Tyler to go to bed, but when I entered his room, a man was in there about to hurt Tyler. I punched the man a few times and he left, so I went out of the room. The man kept coming back, though."

Tony looked at the mirror behind him before looking back at Roger. "We'll take that into note." He stood up and left the interrogation room. Gibbs, McGee, and Ziva were waiting for him just outside. "Looks like we have our answer."

**XXX**

Gibbs walked up to the door of Jenny's office. It was wide open. Ignoring Cynthia, he walked in, about to slam the door closed when he saw Jenny at the conference table with Tyler.

"How about some green for the grass?" Jenny asked softly.

Tyler nodded and she handed him a green crayon. He softly colored the paper in front of him. Gibbs noticed the lollipop in his mouth and smiled. That kid was addicted to candy. He leaned up against the doorway, watching Jenny and Tyler interact.

"What color are you going to make the car?" Jenny asked.

"Red," Tyler answered. "It's my favorite color."

Jenny smiled. "Red's a nice color."

"What's your favorite color?"

Jenny thought for a moment. "I like lavender."

Tyler snorted. "That's a girl color."

"Well I am a girl," Jenny pointed out, a smile spreading across her face.

He nodded, then Gibbs noticed his face went serious. "Where am I going to live now?"

Jenny sighed softly. "We're still figuring that out."

"My mommy's not okay, is she?"

She shook her head. "No, she isn't. She's gone, Tyler. I'm sorry."

"Gone like Grand-pappy?" Tyler asked.

Assuming it was his grandfather, Jenny nodded. "Yeah, gone like Grand-pappy."

"What about my daddy?"

"He's okay, but you won't get to live with him anymore."

"It's because he hurt me, isn't it?" Tyler asked. "He gave me bruises like the ones I got when I fell off the swing at the park, or when Kyle kicked me by accident at soccer practice." Jenny nodded. "Why'd he do it?"

"Because he didn't think it was you," Gibbs said, alerting them to his presence.

"Jethro," Jenny said, surprised. "How long have you been standing there?"

Gibbs shrugged, walking over to sit down beside Tyler.

"What do you mean he didn't think it was me?" Tyler asked.

"He was hallucinating," Gibbs said. "He thought someone was trying to hurt you, but it was all in his imagination. He didn't mean anything by it."

"But even though it wasn't done on purpose, I don't get to live with him," Tyler said.

Gibbs nodded. "Yep."

Tyler looked at the bare lollipop stick in his hand. "Can I go see if Agent DiNozzo has anymore lollipops?"

Jenny and Gibbs both laughed. "Sure thing, Tyler," Gibbs said. Tyler jumped up and ran out of the office and down to the Squad Room.

"He's a cute kid," Jenny said. "I wonder if we had raised him, what he would have been like?"

"Like you," Gibbs said. He changed into work mode. "Roger said that he thought he was beating up someone that was trying to hurt Tyler. He was hallucinating from the LSD in his beer. It doesn't explain Alison, though."

"He was drunk last night," Jenny said. "Bad things happen when people get drunk. Plus, if there was LSD in it, it couldn't been even worse."

Gibbs nodded. "The question is: what do we do with Roger now?"

"Personally, I want to shoot the bastard, hallucination or not," Jenny said. "But the director side of me says to just put him in custody. Bring him over to the Metro PD. They can keep him."

"And Tyler?" Gibbs asked, even though he knew the answer.

Jenny gave him a look that said 'Really?' "He can live with me. He is my son after all."

"You're not my mommy," Tyler's voice came from the doorway. He had another lollipop in his hand and a confused look on his face.

Both Jenny and Gibbs whirled around, looking at the baffled child. They exchanged a glance. How were they going to explain this? Especially to a six-year-old?

**A/N: I know, a cliffhanger. Sorry 'bout that. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews I got! I really appreciate them, along with the favorites/alerts, and all the people that are just reading this story. Please review now! :D **


	5. The New Arrangements

**I know, bad cliffhanger last chapter. More answers will be revealed in this chapter. MUCH more answers... except for a couple, which will be answered in later chapters. **

**Chapter Five: The New Arrangements**

"You're not my mommy," Tyler repeated. "My mommy's gone."

Jenny felt tears pricking at her eyes. "Uh, Tyler, Alison… wasn't your biological mom."

"My what?"

Gibbs pulled out a chair. "C'mere and sit down, Tyler. We'll explain it all."

Tyler walked over, lollipop in his mouth, and sat down in the chair, looking at the two adults as they each sat down as well.

"Do you know what DNA is, Tyler?" Jenny asked. Tyler shook his head. "It's the basis of the human structure. Everything little thing about us is made up of DNA. All DNA is unique, like a giraffe's prints or a zebra's stripes."

"Zebras and giraffes look the same, though," Tyler said.

"If you look closely, you can see they're not," Jenny explained. "No two zebra's stripes are alike. Same with a giraffe's spots. DNA in a human has a… code. The code tells us all about the person. It can tell us hair color, eye color, gender, and who the parents of the person are."

"Does my DNA say you're my mommy?"

Jenny nodded. "Yeah, it does. Alison and Roger adopted you after you were born."

"You didn't want me?" Tyler asked, a look so sad on his face it was almost too painful for Jenny and Gibbs to look at.

"No, Tyler, I wanted you," Jenny said. "But someone didn't want me to have you. They told me you were… gone. Gone like Alison and Grand-pappy."

"Why?"

"I wish I knew."

Tyler looked at the lollipop in his hands. He then looked up at Jenny. "If you're my real mommy, who's my daddy?"

"Me," Gibbs said.

"So my DNA says you're my daddy?"

Gibbs nodded. "Yeah."

"Does DNA lie?"

Jenny shook her head. "No, it doesn't."

Gibbs' cellphone started ringing. "Yeah, Gibbs." Jenny watched as his face went dark. "Did you get him?… Bring him into interrogation. Get the body to Ducky." He hung up his phone and looked at Jenny. "I'll be back," he said, walking out the door and carefully closing it behind him.

"If you're my real mommy and he's my real daddy, then why aren't you together?" Tyler asked.

"It's… complicated," Jenny said, feeling remorse build up inside of her.

"Did he hurt you like he hurt mom— Alison?"

"No, Tyler. He didn't hurt me at all. It just… didn't work out. I left him a couple months after you were born."

"Like… divorce?" Tyler asked. "'Cause my friend Kyle's parents aren't together anymore and Kyle says they call it 'divorce'."

"It's kind of like divorce, yeah," Jenny said.

Tyler looked at his half-gone lollipop before looking back up at Jenny. "Do I get to live with you now?"

"If you want to," Jenny said, giving him a small smile.

Tyler nodded. "I want to live with my mommy and daddy. Will he be with us?"

Jenny shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, Tyler. But knowing him, I'm sure he will. We'll have to ask him when he gets back."

**XXX** (Ten minutes earlier)

"Is Tyler going to get to live with a nice family?" Roger asked as Tony and Ziva escorted him to the van that was waiting to take him to the prison.

"Yeah," Tony said. "He'll be living with his real parents most likely."

"But I thought Tyler's parents were dead?" Roger asked, confused.

"Nope. The docs lied and said Tyler was dead, when he really wasn't."

"Why would they do that?"

"Who knows?" Ziva said as they arrived at the van.

He was just barely handing over Roger when a gunshot could be heard and blood sprayed all over Tony's face. He looked over to see Roger fall to the ground, a bullet through his forehead, much like what had happened to Kate. Whirling around, he saw a man with a gun in his hands. The man turned around and started to run. Tony ran after him, but Ziva was faster and tackled the man to the ground, her gun pressed to his forehead as she kicked his gun away.

"Please! Don't shoot me!" the man pleaded, his voice muffled since his face was on the ground.

"Why shouldn't I?" Ziva asked, furious. "Give me one good reason!"

Tony flipped open his cellphone, calling Gibbs. "Hey, Boss, it's Tony. We have a situation. Roger's dead. He was shot by some guy just as we were handing him over to Metro PD… yeah, we did… got it." He hung up his phone. "Bring him into interrogation, Ziva. I'll bring Roger's body to Ducky."

Ziva stood up, pulling the man up with her. She looked at him curiously. "Do I know you?"

The man shook his head. "I… I don't think… think so," he stuttered.

Ziva squinted her eyes at him before roughly pulling him towards the elevator.

**XXX**

"Where have I seen him before?" Ziva asked as she looked at the man from the observation room.

"I don't know," Tony answered. "But he looks pretty familiar, doesn't he?"

Ziva nodded. "I swear, I've seen him somewhere."

Gibbs walked into the observation room. "What the hell happened?" he asked.

"This guy shot Roger square in the forehead just as we were handing him over," Tony said.

Gibbs looked at the man sitting in interrogation. His face (if it was even possible) got angrier and his mouth formed into a tight line. "That bastard."

"I know, it's horrible," Tony said. "Why would he be after someone who was already going to jail?"

"Not that," Gibbs said. "I know that man."

"From where?" Ziva asked. "I recognize him, too."

"He was a doctor in Paris," Gibbs answered. "He's the one that said Tyler was born dead." He stormed out of the room and a few seconds later, he was in the room in front of Tony and Ziva. He sat down calmly, which was quite the opposite of his temper. "Hello, Dr. Weston," he said. "Long time no see."

The Dr. Weston guy gave a small smile. "I remember you. Your girlfriend was pregnant but your son was born dead."

"No, he wasn't," Gibbs answered. "You lied to us. Our son was very much alive. Right now he's with our director, probably sucking on another lollipop."

"But how is that possible?" Dr. Weston asked. "He was dead when he was born!"

"No," Gibbs repeated, the anger finally rising in his voice. "You lied. Then you killed his adoptive father a few minutes ago. Why?"

**XXX**

McGee walked into Abby's lab. He held out a strand of hair to her.

"Uh… is this some sort of gift or something?" she asked.

"No," McGee said. "This is Tyler's hair. The director wants to make a positive match on his parents."

"Just to be sure?" Abby asked. McGee nodded. "I don't know what they need to be sure about. Tyler's obviously their son."

McGee shrugged. "Always double check."

"Rule number… four?"

"Three," McGee corrected.

"Right…" Abby said, clicking around on her keyboard. "It'll take a few minutes for it to work." She twirled around, leaning up against her lab table, smiling at him.

"Tony thinks we're dating," McGee said.

"Timmy… we are dating," Abby said.

"I know, but he knows. He's going to tell Gibbs and I'm going to get my ass fried."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Abby said. "I am his favorite, after all." She smiled again, then got a nervous look on her face. "I've been thinking about what you asked me earlier, and I have an answer." Her computer beeped and she whirled around, looking at the results. "Yep, it's positive. Our director and Gibbs are Tyler's parents." She printed out the results and handed them to McGee. "Bring this up to her for me?"

"Yeah, I will," McGee said. "But before I leave, what was your answer."

She gave him a long kiss. After she pulled away, she whispered, "Yes."

**XXX**

"Hey," Gibbs said, smiling as he walked into Jenny's office, where she was sitting on the floor with Tyler. By the looks of it, they were playing LIFE. He sat down beside Tyler. "Who's winning?"

"He is," Jenny answered. "He's way ahead of me. I got sent back to start because of a tornado." She spun the wheel and went the amount of spaces, stopping on a red space.

"You have to get married now!" Tyler exclaimed. Obviously, he had played this before. He got a blue peg and put it in the passenger side of the light blue car Jenny was using. "There, now you have a husband."

Tony popped his head in. He looked at Jenny, who gave a short nod. "Hey, Tyler," he said, causing the child to look up. "I have something for you…"

"Candy?" Tyler asked hopefully. Jenny and Gibbs gave small laughs.

"Come and see," Tony said. Tyler hopped up and ran after Tony, the door closing behind him.

Jenny looked up at Gibbs. "He's an adorable little guy."

"That he is," Gibbs answered.

Jenny looked over at him. "Tyler wants to know if you'll be there for him as his daddy."

"If that's okay with you."

She cleared her throat. "Listen, Jethro, I'm willing to raise Tyler with you… together. Like normal couples do. However, I'm not ready to start up our relationship again. There's just too much going on right now. I just got this job and I really want this to work out. I don't have the time to juggle that, Tyler, and a relationship." She bit her lip before continuing. "Okay?"

Gibbs nodded. "Fair enough."

Jenny smiled at him comfortingly. "Thank you, Jethro."

"Are we raising him at your house?"

Jenny nodded. "I think that'd be best for him. It's a big house, and Noemi gets along with children great." She paused. "Are you going to come over all the time, or what?"

"I don't know how I'm going to be able to stay at both of the houses," he replied in his deep voice. "If I'm going to be a part of Tyler's life, I want to be there for him whenever he needs me." He trailed off.

She knew what he was getting at. "It would mean leaving your basement and your boat."

"I'm sure I can find somewhere in your house to build the boat," Gibbs said, chuckling.

Jenny laughed with him. "Knowing you, you will find somewhere to build it."

"So it's okay to move in with you?"

Jenny gave him a look before nodding. "It'll be easier for both you and Tyler."

"Great," Gibbs said. He stood up.

"Jethro, was there a reason you came up here?"

Gibbs cursed himself for forgetting the whole reason why he came to see her. "Yeah, there was. Roger's dead."

"What?" Jenny asked in a shocked tone, standing up.

"He was shot, and you'll never guess who shot him."

"Who, then?"

"Dr. Adam Weston."

"You mean, _the_ Dr. Weston? The one that told us our child was dead?"

"That exact one."

"Why'd he kill Roger?"

"That's what DiNozzo, Ziva, and McGee are going to find out, though McGee's down playing grab ass in Abby's lab."

"How are we going to tell Tyler?"

"I left that to DiNozzo. That's what he's doing right now," Gibbs said.

"Wait a minute," Jenny said. "What if Dr. Weston is behind this all? He told us Tyler's dead. He killed Roger. What if he's the one that poisoned Roger and made him beat Tyler to get Tyler taken away? What if he's the reason Roger killed Alison, besides being drunk?"

"My thoughts exactly."

**A/N: Oh, so many new questions that have to be answered. What did McGee ask Abby? Is Dr. Weston behind all of this? What will happen to Jenny and Gibbs? Stay tuned for the next chapter of **_**The New Director's Secret**_**! :P Sorry, I was just having a little fun there. Please review now! **


	6. The Employer

**Some more McAbby in this chapter, and some cute Jibbs moments, plus a startling surprise… and more questions to be asked...**

**Chapter Six: The Employer**

"I told you, Agent Gibbs, Roger was an undercover spy," Dr. Adam Weston said. "He was trying to hack into the Navy to steal the codes for one of their top secret projects. He had to be stopped."

"But why you?" Gibbs asked. "Last time I saw you, you were working in Paris, not D.C. You worked in the… ob-gyn, or whatever that childbirth thing is. Now tell me: why is a doctor specializing in childbirth hunting down a man spying on the Navy?"

"Childbirth isn't my specialty!"

"Obviously, since you told me my son was dead when he wasn't."

"No, you don't understand." Adam took a deep breath. "I lied."

"I got that far."

"Look, I knew your son wasn't dead." Gibbs gave him a hard glare and it looked as though he was going to actually kill the guy. "Just, please, let me explain!"

"Go ahead," Gibbs said, his voice rough with anger.

Adam took another deep breath, exhaling slowly. "There was a… a mistake. I work undercover for the Navy, along with some of the other doctors in the hospital. Back in Paris in '99, when your son was being born… we… well, we thought that you and your girlfriend were assassins. We'd been given information about them and you two fit the match perfectly. Naturally, we needed to strike you deep and the best way to do that was to take away your child."

"At least we know our covers were rock solid," Gibbs replied sarcastically.

Adam glanced behind Gibbs at the two way mirror. He then looked back at Gibbs. "I'm sorry, Agent Gibbs. We didn't realize that you weren't actually the married couple until it was too late. Your son had already moved in with Roger and his wife and was living happily with them."

Gibbs glared at him and stood up, walking out of interrogation. He was met by a smiling Tony.

"Hey, Boss," he greeted. Gibbs gave him 'the look'. "Right, so, uh… Ziva and I did background checks on Adam Weston," Tony said as the two men started walking back to the bullpen. "He worked with that hospital you and the director were at until 9/11, when he transferred over to a hospital that was helping out with patients hurt from the events on 9/11. He then transferred over to Bethesda Naval Hospital just a few months ago."

"That it?"

"That's all I managed to get. I'm sure Ziva has something, Boss."

"She'd better."

**XXX**

Gibbs knocked on the door frame lightly to alert Jenny and Tyler to his presence. "Hey," he said.

"Agent— I mean, Dad," Tyler greeted, giving his father a smile.

Jenny smiled as well. "Jethro." She paused. "I thought you were interrogating Dr. Weston?"

"I did. Didn't get too far with him," Gibbs replied. He looked over at Tyler. "Hey, uh, Ty, would you mind giving your mom and I a moment?"

Tyler nodded, standing up. "'Kay." He walked out the door and started chatting with Cynthia.

"What's wrong, Jethro?" Jenny asked.

"Dr. Weston said he was working undercover in Paris, along with other doctors in the hospital we went to. Our covers fooled them into thinking we were actually the two assassins we were posing as, so in order to get us down deep, they told us Tyler was dead," Gibbs explained.

"Why? What is he doing for the Navy, and why weren't we told about this earlier?"

"That's what McGee's going to ask him as soon as I find out where he went."

"Last time I saw him he was headed for Ducky's."

Gibbs nodded. "Thanks." He gave a short cough. "How did Tyler react to Roger's death?"

"Tony said he took it well, but I highly doubt it'll be like that for long. Even if their last moments together weren't the best they could've been, they had a lot of good moments beforehand," Jenny said.

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah."

Jenny gave him an unreadable look. "Jethro, I—"

"Boss, sorry to interrupt," Tony said from the doorway, alerting the two to his presence, "but we have a bit of an issue."

"What is it, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"Something's wrong with that Dr. Weston guy. Ziva called the hospital. It looks like he's having a heart attack."

"Dammit!" Gibbs growled. "Why are they all dying on us?" he grumbled. He shoved past Tony and down to the squad room.

"Is he okay?" Tony asked Jenny.

"Yeah, he's fine," Jenny said. "Just a rough month." Tony nodded and walked out, following Gibbs' steps.

Tyler peeked his head in. "Can I come back?"

"Sure thing, buddy," Jenny replied, smiling. Tyler went over and sat down beside her. She wrapped one of her arms around him and kissed him lightly on the head. His eyes started to flutter closed, but he quickly opened them again. "I think it's time for someone to take a nap."

"I don't wanna take a nap," Tyler said, giving a small yawn.

"Your body does." Jenny carefully stood up before picking Tyler up. "My couch will have to do for now." She set him down carefully on the couch and grabbed a blanket from the closet, throwing to over him. She kissed his forehead. "Try and get some sleep, okay?"

"Kay," Tyler replied. His eyes started to close once more before he finally succumbed to sleep.

"Love you, Ty," Jenny whispered.

**XXX**

"What's wrong with him?" Gibbs asked the doctor standing in front of him.

"He suffered from a heart attack," the doctor said. "He's stable and should be waking up in a couple of hours or so."

Gibbs gave him a glare and the doctor walked away. He sighed and rested his head on his arm, which was leaning up against the wall.

He heard Tony's voice. "This has to be some sort of trick or something."

"What do you mean, Tony?" Ziva asked.

"The man just happens to have a heart attack while he's in our custody for killing a man? Coincidence?"

"I don't believe in them," Gibbs said, walking past them and heading off to the director of the cafe, where the coffee was located.

Tony watched him. "There's something going on with Gibbs."

"You mean the fact that he's acting meaner than usual?" McGee asked.

"Exactly. But it's so strange, because I watched him talking with the director, and he was so much more at ease."

"He loves her, Tony," Ziva said. "It's as plain as nightlight."

"Daylight, Ziva," Tony corrected.

"Daylight, then. It's as plain as daylight! The point is, he still is in love with her after all these years."

"Something tells me it's time to play matchmaker…" Tony said. "McGrabass, tell your girlfriend she needs to become Cupid again." McGee glared at him. "What, is Probie Wan Kanobi never going to go on a real date, or are you two just going to play around at work?"

"No," McGee said. "I'm seeing her tonight, it's just that—"

"Tonight, eh? Where are you going?"

"My apartment."

"I thought you were moving out of your apartment?" Ziva asked.

"I never said I was moving out—"

"No, you didn't, but you happened to leave a picture of a very nice house up on your computer screen. That and I overheard you talking with the movers on the telephone," Ziva explained.

Tony's eyes widened. "Oh, no, Probie… you didn't." He smiled widely. "Aw, you did!"

"What?" Ziva asked. "What did he do?"

"That's a big step, Elf Lord," Tony said, ignoring Ziva's question. "You sure you two are ready for it?"

"We both gave it thought and decided it'd be a good idea," McGee said.

"What's a good idea?" Ziva asked.

She was once again ignored while Tony continued chatting with McGee. "I'm proud of you, McGee," Tony said, patting McGee on the back.

Ziva sighed. She pulled out her knife and shoved Tony up against the wall, holding the knife to him. "If you do not tell me what McGee did, I will—"

Her threat was cut short when three doctors came rushing down the hall and into Dr. Weston's room.

"What's going on?" McGee asked one of the doctors.

The doctor shrugged. "I can't tell you right now." He went into the room.

"What's going on?" Gibbs asked, coming up behind them with a new coffee in his hand.

"Doctors won't say," McGee said.

"Ziva, put the knife away."

Ziva gave Tony a good glare. "You'll tell me later." She put the knife away, not stopping her glare that was still transfixed on Tony.

A doctor came out of the room. He looked at the four agents. "Is one of you Agent Gibbs?"

"I am," Gibbs said.

"The patient's awake. He's asking for you."

Gibbs nodded, walking towards the door. The doctor stopped him.

"I don't know if he's going to last much longer," the doctor said. "He's got more than one blood clot in some of the more vital coronary arteries. There's no telling what'll happen now."

"Got it," Gibbs said. He slowly walked into the room, looking at the weak form of Dr. Adam Weston.

"Gi… Gibbs," Adam said, his voice thready. "There's something you need to know."

"What?" Gibbs asked.

"My boss… he's the one that told me to kill Roger… he lied to me, and I lied to you," Adam said. "He works for a terrorist group. I never knew until two days ago. I was told to shoot Roger, and if I didn't, then my family would be killed. My boss… he wants Tyler."

"Why?"

"He wants to… to train him… to be the… the future leader of his terrorist group. He wants to train him to become the most…" Adam stopped, coughing loudly. "He's not stopping till he gets ahold of Tyler. You can't let him do that, Agent Gibbs."

"I won't," Gibbs said. "Who's your boss?"

Adam's voice was barely audible, but Gibbs heard it clearly.

"He calls himself La Grenouille."

**A/N: And so La Grenouille shows up. What fun this will be. This would've been up a couple of days ago, but I got up with some other stuff, so last night I stayed up until 11:18 to finish this up. And I hope to get one more chapter up next weekend, hopefully, before I go camping way up in Maine for a week. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! You guys rock! :D Please review now! **


	7. The First Night

**I told you I'd get another chapter out. :P And, as you may have noticed, La Grenouille doesn't run a terrorist group, but for the purpose of this story… he does. It's AU anyway. **

**Chapter Seven: The First Night**

"How is he?" Jenny asked, sitting at her desk in her office with her phone.

"He's not going to make it," Gibbs said into his cell at the hospital.

"Damn," Jenny muttered.

"Yeah, that's exactly how I feel. He gave me the name of his employer."

"Who is it?"

"La Grenouille," Gibbs said. Jenny was glad that he couldn't see her face. "That means 'The Frog', right?"

"Did you finally learn French?" Jenny teased, not wanting him to detect anything in her voice.

"I do know _some_ French, you know."

Jenny smiled. "Uh-huh."

"You know this frog guy?"

Jenny paused. "Uh… I've heard of him. I… I don't… know much about him."

"Right…" Gibbs said, in a tone that said he didn't believe her. "Well, I gotta go. See you… tonight?"

"Yeah, Jethro," she replied. "Bye."

"Bye."

Jenny hung up her office phone and put her head in her hands. She knew that name anywhere. It haunted her nightmares.

La Grenouille.

The Frog. A notorious arms dealer. Jenny had been chasing him for years, but she could never get him. He killed her father. Now he was after her son. Why couldn't the man just leave her alone?

**XXX**

"It's late," Gibbs said as he walked into the bullpen. "Go home. Get some sleep. Be back here tomorrow at 0700 hours." He shut down his computer.

"See you in the morning, boss," Tony said as he grabbed his stuff and headed to the elevator. Ziva quickly did the same. McGee clicked a few things on his computer before taking the stairs down to Abby's lab.

Gibbs drove to his house and grabbed a fresh pair of clothes for the next day and a pair of sweats and tee for the night. He then checked on his boat before getting back into his truck and driving to his future home.

He knocked on the door, not wanting to barge in. The familiar face of Noemi greeted him.

"Senor Gibbs!" she said.

"Hey, Noemi. Jen home?"

Noemi nodded. "She is in the guest bedroom upstairs with the little boy." She stepped back and allowed Gibbs entrance. "I was just leaving."

"Have a good night, Noemi," Gibbs said. "Say hi to the kids for me."

"I will, Senor," Noemi said, smiling. "Goodnight!"

"'Night."

Noemi walked out the door and closed it gently behind her. Gibbs looked around before heading up the stairs, trying to remember where the guest bedroom was. He heard voices and noticed it was coming from the room just to the left of him. He opened up the door slowly and saw Jenny lying on the bed with Tyler.

"…and they lived happily ever after," Jenny read from the book in her hands. "The end." She closed the book.

"Fairy tales?" Gibbs asked. Tyler and Jenny looked up.

"Jack and the Beanstalk!" Tyler exclaimed. "It's my favorite."

Gibbs smiled. "Mine, too," he said, walking over and sitting down on the other side of Tyler. He put his arm around him. "Bedtime?"

"I don't wanna go to bed," Tyler said.

"But you've got to get to sleep."

"Can't I stay up with you?"

"We're not going to stay up," Jenny said, standing up. "As soon as you're asleep we're going to go sleep, too."

Tyler sighed. "Fine."

Gibbs smiled and got off the bed, tucking Tyler in. He kissed him on his head, smoothing his hair out. "Night, Ty."

"Night, Dad," Tyler said. "Night, Mom," he added when Jenny kissed his cheek real quickly.

"Good night, Tyler," she replied. She and Gibbs walked over to the door, where Jenny flicked off the lights and closed the door. She turned to Gibbs. "Hey."

"Hey," he responded.

"How's the, uh, case going?"

Gibbs shrugged. "You know, your average case. Can't find much on this Frog guy other than he's an arms dealer and his real name is Rene Benoit. And not only is he an arms dealer, he runs a terrorist group as a side job."

Jenny nodded, and Gibbs noticed she was hiding something.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm just tired," she said, rubbing her eyes and yawning. "I gotta get some sleep." Her eyes widened. "Oh, crap."

"What?"

"Tyler's using the guest bedroom," she said.

"And?"

"You were supposed to have the guest bedroom. Then again, it's the only extra bedroom in the house. You can't sleep on the couch all the time."

"Jen, we're adults. We can sleep in the same bed, you know," Gibbs pointed out.

She looked at him. "That depends. Can you keep your hands to yourself?"

Gibbs glared at her. She laughed and sighed.

"Fine, but you stay on your side," Jenny said, walking down the hall to her bedroom.

Gibbs followed her in. She grabbed a nightgown and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Gibbs quickly shed his clothing and put on the tee and sweatpants that he had brought along with him. He looked at some of the pictures sitting on her bureau. The bathroom door opened up and Jenny walked in, a lavender satin nightgown that Gibbs couldn't help but stare at.

Jenny noticed him staring. "Stop staring at me."

"Can't help it," Gibbs said, walking over to the bed.

She gave a small laugh, throwing back the sheets and crawling onto the bed before pulling the sheets back up. Gibbs got in on the other side, laying back and just looking at her. She hit his arm.

"Stop it," she mumbled.

He smiled and turned over slightly to turn off his lamp before rolling onto his side and facing her. She turned off her lamp and lay with her back to him.

"Jen," Gibbs said. "I gotta question."

She turned a bit to look at him. "What?"

"Can you keep _your_ hands to yourself?"

**XXX**

Gibbs woke up when he felt Jenny tossing beside him. He groaned and looked over, about to yell at her to go to sleep already, when he noticed that she was asleep. Her eyes were flicking around under their lids, and a light sweat was building up on her forehead.

"Jen," he said. She twitched slightly. He shook her arm. "Jenny, wake up!"

Her eyes flew open with a start and she sat up fast, looking around her and panting heavily. She looked at Gibbs before bursting into tears. Gibbs quickly wrapped her in an embrace.

"Shh, Jen, it's okay," he comforted. "You're safe."

"It's not me I'm worried about," she said into his shoulder. "He's after Tyler, Jethro."

Gibbs realized she had dreamt of La Grenouille. "We're going to catch the bastard, Jen. It's like all the other criminals we've gotten."

"No, he isn't," Jenny said. "I… I've tried to catch him for the past twelve years, Jethro. It's impossible."

"You mean you know this guy?" Gibbs asked.

She pulled away, wiping away the last of her tears. "Yeah, I do." She sniffled before continuing. "My father wouldn't take a deal from him. La Grenouille wanted to illegally sell weapons to him. After my father refused, La Grenouille shot him, but he staged it to look like suicide. Everyone thinks that my dad shot himself because he couldn't deal with the fact that he'd betray his country."

Gibbs looked down. "Jen, you mean to tell me that you've been chasing this guy for the past twelve years, and you never told me?" He looked back up at her. "Didn't you know that I would help?"

"I… I guess I wasn't thinking about that. I didn't want you to get caught up in my problems," she said. "You don't know what it's like to lose someone and want so badly to avenge their death."

"Actually… I do," Gibbs responded. She looked up at him, confused. "I guess there's no better time than now to tell you this. Before I joined NCIS, or at the time NIS, I was a sniper for the Marines."

"I know that, Jethro."

"There's more. I had a wife and daughter," Gibbs said, feeling sorrow rise up in his chest. "Shannon and Kelly."

Jenny's eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement. "What…?"

"I was deployed over to Kuwait, leaving the two of them here. Shannon… She witnessed a murder and gave her statement. An NIS agent was escorting her and Kelly back home when a drug dealer shot the agent in the head. Shannon and Kelly both died in the crash."

Jenny's eyes were swimming with tears again. "Jethro, I…" she trailed off, pulling him into another hug. "I'm sorry."

A scream erupted from the other room. Jenny and Gibbs both jumped out of the bed. Jenny automatically ran out the door, but Gibbs quickly grabbed his SIG and ran into Tyler's room. A man was standing there, his hand covering Tyler's mouth. Gibbs pointed the gun at him.

"Back away slowly," he growled.

The man turned around and smiled at Jenny. "Ah, Jennifer, long time no see."

"You bastard," she hissed.

"Come now, you really don't still blame me for your father's suicide, do you?" the man asked. Gibbs realized it was La Grenouille.

"It wasn't suicide," she replied icily. "You killed him."

"Prove it," La Grenouille said. Jenny didn't reply.

Gibbs decided to interject. "Get away from Tyler, Frogman."

La Grenouille turned to look at Gibbs. "That'd be a problem, you see."

"And why is that?"

La Grenouille smiled. "Because he's mine."

"No he's not!" Jenny screamed.

He took a step back. "My, my, Jennifer, is your motherly instinct kicking in?"

"Knock it off!" Gibbs shouted. "I will shoot you."

"You shoot me and Tyler dies," the Frog said. Gibbs noticed the silver glint of a knife at Tyler's throat. La Grenouille's grip on Tyler tightened and Tyler whimpered.

"Tyler," Jenny breathed out. "Why do you want him?" she yelled. "He's just a kid!"

"When kids learn things at a young age, it sticks with them forever. He will be successor when I die."

"Which will be today," Gibbs said, pulling the trigger.

**A/N: Oh, no! Is La Grenouille still alive? Did the knife slice at Tyler's throat? All questions we still want to know… but will have to wait for. :P Thanks for all the fantastic reviews I've been getting and please review now! :D**


	8. The ER

**You're lucky I got this out. It was late last night and I'm supposed to be sleeping off my camping trip. My mom was yelling, "Go to bed, Nicki!" from the other room, but I said I had to finish this first. :P And also, I apologize in advance for an OOC-ness that occurs in this chapter and future chapters.**

**Disclaimer: I should redo this. I don't own anything except Alison, Roger, Tyler, and Dr. Weston. **

**Chapter Eight: The ER**

A cry of pain erupted from La Grenouille as the bullet tore through his chest. He fell back about three feet, the knife still held tightly in his fingers. He gave Gibbs a glare before throwing the knife and falling back onto the bed, twitching slightly before lying still, obviously dead.

Meanwhile, as the knife moved through the air, everything seemed to be in slow motion. The knife traveled slowly towards Tyler.

"Tyler!" Jenny screamed, lunging at him and pushing him down to the ground.

Gibbs finally put his gun down and ran over to where Tyler and Jenny were lying on the floor. "Everyone okay?" he asked.

Tyler nodded, pulling himself up and clinging to Gibbs, sobbing softly. Gibbs held him close before looking down at Jenny.

"Jen?" he asked, putting one of his hands on her shoulder.

She rolled over, wincing. "Dammit," she said, looking at her hip. The knife was snug into her side there, and blood was slowly oozing out onto the floor. "I think we're going to be spending the night at the hospital."

**XXX**

"Where'd Mommy go?" Tyler asked. He was sitting in a chair in the empty waiting room while Gibbs paced in front of him.

"She went to go get… checked up," Gibbs replied.

"Is Mommy hurt?"

Gibbs stopped pacing and sat down beside him. "It's just a scratch, Tyler."

"I've gotten scratches before," Tyler said, "but they didn't look like that. Why is there so much blood, Daddy?"

"She, uh, got—"

Gibbs was interrupted from continuing when the doors burst open and Abby came running in with McGee right behind her.

"Gibbs!" she said, hugging him tightly. She bent down to Tyler. "Mini-Gibbs!"

"Abby!" Tyler exclaimed, smiling at the goth and hugging her.

Abby picked him up, looking at Gibbs. Her eyes were swimming with tears.

"She's fine, Abs," Gibbs said. He moved his hands, telling her in sign language that he didn't want to say anything bad in front of Tyler. Abby nodded in understanding.

"Uh, is there a Jethro Gibbs here?" a doctor called out.

Gibbs walked over to him. "Yeah. How's Jenny?"

"She's resting right now. The knife didn't puncture any major arteries or organs. She will have to stay here for a couple of days and then she'll have to be on bed rest at home for a week or so after that."

"Can we see her?"

The doctor nodded. "If you'll follow me," the doctor said.

McGee, Gibbs, and Abby, who was carrying Tyler, all followed the doctor down the hall to the room where Jenny was. They quietly entered.

"Mommy's sleeping," Tyler said.

"Yeah, she is," Abby said, smiling at him.

Gibbs walked over to stand beside the hospital bed. He took his hand in hers, softly rubbing circles with his thumb. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled at Gibbs.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Hey," he replied, giving her a small smile.

Tyler was struggling in Abby's arms. "Mommy!"

Jenny looked up and her smile widened. Abby brought Tyler over and let him sit next to her on the bed. Jenny held Tyler's hand with the hand that wasn't still holding Gibbs.

"Daddy said you had a scratch," Tyler said.

Jenny looked up at Gibbs before turning back to her son. "Yeah, I do."

"But why did you have to come to the hospital?"

"It was a big scratch," Jenny said. She looked up at Abby.

"Oh, uh… Tyler, why don't you and I go with McGee to, uh, find something to snack on," Abby said, recognizing the look that Jenny gave her.

Tyler gave Jenny a small hug, being careful of her 'scratch'. "I love you, Mommy."

Jenny kissed his forehead. "Love you, too, bud."

Abby bent down and hugged Jenny before heading with Tyler and McGee out the door, the latter one giving a small wave as he disappeared from Jenny's view.

Jenny turned her attention to Gibbs. "Okay, what's bugging you?"

Gibbs shrugged. "Don't know what you mean."

"You keep staring at me like something's about to burst out of my head and take over the world."

He looked down at their hands, which were still intertwined. "I… You scared me, Jen." His eyes flicked up to hers. "I don't… want to lose you again."

Jenny opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She was shocked that she had actually scared him. It wasn't exactly easy to scare the Silver Fox.

Gibbs leaned forward and placed a gentle, long kiss on her forehead. He pulled back and smiled. "Looks like I get to play single dad for the next couple of days."

"What do you mean?" Jenny asked.

"You're here at the hospital for the next few days. Doctor's orders."

"What?" Jenny practically shouted. "I don't want to stay here! I hate hospitals!"

"Well you're staying here, like it or not," Gibbs said, forcing back a smile at her usual attitude towards hospitals. "Then you're on bed rest at home."

Jenny mumbled something under her breath that Gibbs couldn't quiet make out.

"I'll bring Tyler in to visit tomorrow," Gibbs said.

"Okay," Jenny replied just as the door opened up and Tyler ran in. He went over and Gibbs picked him up, setting him down beside Jenny.

"Love you, Mommy," Tyler said, giving her another carefully hug.

"I love you, too, Tyler," Jenny said, smiling at him.

"Are you coming home with us tonight?"

"Not exactly. Because of my big… scratch… I have to stay here for a couple of nights before I go home," Jenny said. "But don't worry, Daddy will take extra good care of you." She looked up at Gibbs. "Right?"

"Right," Gibbs said. "We get to have our man time."

"Yay!" Tyler shouted. "Man time!"

Jenny giggled, giving him a quick kiss. "See you tomorrow bud."

Gibbs kissed Jenny's forehead again before picking Tyler up and carrying him out, hoping that he still had that 'father' gene in him.

**A/N: Short, I know, but it was like a filler chapter sort of thing. Thanks for all the amazing reviews and all the support I've been getting with this story! This story is taking a life of its own right now. I don't know where I'm going with it now. It's all spur of the moment. :P Please review now! :D **


	9. The Picture

**This is two days after the last chapter, so Jenny's returning home. Ha, I had fun writing this chapter. Especially the scene where Jenny and Gibbs are talking in her bedroom **_**before**_** Tyler comes in. You'll understand when you read it. :P**

**Chapter Nine: The Picture**

"Did you have a fun time with Daddy?" Jenny asked as she walked through the front door of the house.

"Yeah!" Tyler exclaimed. "Yesterday, we went to my soccer practice, and then we got ice-cream, and then we went to the arcade, and Daddy got me a new game for my Playstation, and then we went and we visited you and came back here and not much happened until today and now we're home!"

"Sounds like you had a fun couple of days," Jenny said, amazed that the boy could say that much without taking a single breath. It reminded her of Abby. "Why don't you go wash up for dinner?"

"Kay!" Tyler said, running towards the bathroom.

Jenny smiled before walking to the kitchen, Gibbs following her.

**XXX**

"Jethro, stop hovering," Jenny said, pushing him away from her slightly. "I can get into bed on my own, thank you very much."

"The doctors said to take it easy," Gibbs said.

"Since when do you listen to the doctors?" Jenny asked, smirking as she crawled into her side of their bed.

Gibbs snorted. "Alright, you win."

Jenny smiled at him. "Yep." She got herself comfortable and then looked over at him. "Hey, I've been thinking lately."

"'Bout what?"

"Getting my hair cut."

He glared at her. "You are _not_ getting your hair cut."

"I can do whatever I please!"

"But I like your hair long!" Gibbs protested, reaching over and twirling a lock of her long hair in his fingers. "I'm a long haired guy."

Jenny ignored the shiver that went up her spine when he touched her. She leaned to the other side, shutting off her lamp and laying down in the best position she could get in considering her wound. "Fine, I won't get my hair cut."

Gibbs smiled, shutting off his own lamp and settling down next to her. "Good."

Neither of them fell asleep right off. They both were laying there, thinking about the other. The room was completely silent.

Until the door squeaked open.

Jenny sat up, looking at the small figure in the doorway. "Tyler?" she asked.

Tyler closed the door and walked over to the bed. It was obvious that he was frightened.

"Tyler, baby, what's wrong?" Jenny asked worriedly. Gibbs finally sat up, a worried expression on his face as well.

"I had a bad dream," Tyler said, sniffling.

Jenny looked at Gibbs, unsure of what to do. She wasn't quite used to being a mother yet, plus nothing like this had ever happened.

"You wanna stay with us for the night?" Gibbs asked, remembering the times when Kelly would sleep with him and Shannon after she had a nightmare.

Tyler nodded, climbing up onto the large bed and crawling up so he was in-between his parents. He crawled under the covers and snuggled up beside Gibbs. Jenny got closer to them and ran her hand along his hair soothingly until the little boy fell asleep. Jenny and Gibbs both fell asleep not too long after.

**XXX**

Jenny woke up to a small bump. She opened her eyes tiredly and saw Noemi standing there with a camera phone in her hand, obviously taking a picture.

"Noemi, what are you doing?" Jenny asked.

Noemi's eyes widened. "Uh… Good morning, Senora. I was just… trying to find some service for my phone."

"You can get four bars throughout the house."

"Uh… not on my phone, Senora. You see, it is a very cheap one. I… don't get very good service anywhere."

Jenny raised her eyebrow but didn't say anything. She stretched and felt her hand connect with another body. She looked over to see Tyler lying there between her and Gibbs.

"Breakfast is ready anytime, Senora," Noemi said.

"Thanks Noemi," Jenny said. "We'll be down in a second."

Noemi nodded and hurried out of the room. Jenny shook her head at her housekeeper, sighing and looking over at the two that were still sleeping.

"Tyler, time for breakfast," she said, gently shaking her son.

Tyler's eyes opened and he looked around before sitting up. "What?" he asked.

"Noemi's made breakfast."

Tyler smiled, hopping out of the bed and running down the hall to the stairs. He was always hungry when he woke up.

Jenny turned back to the other man in her bed. She smiled. This was going to be fun. She poked Gibbs' shoulder. His eye twitched under his lid but he didn't wake up. She poked him again. He swatted at her hand, grumbling something. She leaned forward so that her mouth was by his ear.

"Your boat's on fire," she whispered.

Gibbs shot up, looking around. "Boat," he muttered, getting a confused look on his face when he realized his surroundings. He turned to glare at Jenny. "You suck."

She smiled in return. "Breakfast is ready," she said all too cheerily.

**XXX**

"Oh, that is just _so_ cute!" Abby squealed, gazing at her computer screen.

"What is?" McGee asked, walking into the room with a box in his hands.

"Look at this adorable little picture Jenny's housekeeper Noemi took this morning," Abby said.

McGee put the box down and walked over, resting his chin on Abby's shoulder as he looked at the screen. It had a picture of Jenny, Tyler, and Gibbs all sleeping in Jenny's bed. Tyler was snug between the two adults and they looked just like a perfect family.

"That is cute," McGee said, giving a small smile. He knew his two bosses had something that they weren't admitting to each other, but unlike Abby and Tony, he wasn't going to interfere. They needed to figure out things themselves.

"This will work perfectly for my plan," Abby said.

"What plan?"

"With the help of Noemi, I'm going to get our lovely Silver Fox to take our lovely Director on a romantic date filled with orchids and dinner and beaches," Abby sighed. "It will be the best moment of her life."

"And how do you plan on getting Gibbs to go along with this?"

"I haven't quite figured that out… but I have plenty of time to think of something!"

"Yeah, uh, before you do that, do you mind helping me out with these boxes?" McGee asked. "There are just a few left to put into the van."

Abby nodded, closing the file and shutting down the computer. She got up and looked around her soon-to-be ex-apartment.

"You okay?" McGee asked. "If you don't want to do this, I—"

"No, Timmy, I do," Abby said. "It's just going to feel so weird being in a house instead of an apartment. I mean, I've done so much stuff here. This tiny little abode holds so many memories."

"Yeah, I know," he agreed. "But think: once we have our own house we can build even more memories."

Abby smiled. "Yeah, we will." She picked up a box. "Let's finish loading that baby up."

**A/N: Gibbs' line "I'm a long haired guy" is from **_**Chicago Hope**_** when Lauren Holly's character Jeremy told Mark Harmon's character Jack that she heard from Dawn in the ER that he didn't like her haircut and then Jack said "I'm a long haired guy." I thought it'd be cute to put it. :P Sorry it's kind of a short chapter. I felt this is where it should end. Thank you guys SO MUCH for all the WONDERFUL reviews I've been getting! Now I'm going to pull an Abby: *hugs* Please review now!**


	10. The Plans

**I don't care if Gibbs doesn't like it, but I'm apologizing for adding in this new twist. And sorry for the longer wait. School's started up again and I don't get home till, like, 6:30 or something and then I have to eat and then I'm usually in bed by 9:30 or something, so not a lot of time for writing.**

**Correction on this chapter: Jeanne's last name. Thanks to **The Sneezing Panda** for pointing out that it said "Benoit" at the end. :] I owe you my life. **

**Chapter Ten: The Plans**

A man walked up to the apartment door and pulled out the spare key his sister had given him, putting it into the lock and twisting it before quietly pushing the door open. He took off his shoes, knowing his sister would kill him if he tracked dirt around her apartment.

"Hello?" he asked, wandering around.

"In here!" he heard her reply from a neighboring room.

He walked into the bedroom to his sister sitting on the bed, doing a crossword puzzle. She looked up.

"Hey, Kurt," she said, smiling. "What's up?"

Kurt sighed, knowing this was going to be difficult. "Uh… I have some bad news."

The smile left her face. "What's wrong?"

"Dad's dead."

She looked down at the floor, her lip quivering before the tears started to swim in her stunning blue eyes. She looked back up at him. "How…?"

"Murdered," Kurt said, anger creeping into his voice. "Some NCIS agent shot him."

"Murdered?" she repeated. "But… why?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out. And in order to do that, I need your help."

"Kurt, I don't want to get involved in any of your plans, especially if they're as dangerous as Dad's—"

"Jeanne, please," Kurt said. "They killed Dad. Who's to say that I won't be next? Or you? Or Mom? What about our brother, Richard? You know it'll break his kids and wife's hearts if he dies, Jeanne."

Jeanne looked down, the tears streaming down her cheeks. "What do you need me for?"

"I need you to go on a little undercover mission." Kurt pulled out a picture from his pocket and handed it to her.

Jeanne examined the picture, looking at the green eyed man with messy, brownish hair. He was standing by another man who had dirty blonde hair and hazel-green eyes and a woman who had tan colored skin and dark hair. Kurt pointed at the man with the messy hair.

"I need you to get close to him."

She didn't look up from the picture. "Is he the man that killed Dad?"

"No, but he works for the man. I need you to get to him and earn his trust. We have a cover planned for you already." Kurt reached into his pocket and withdrew a fake ID. "Your new name is Jeanne Russell. You're a kindergarten teacher for a school in Virginia, about a forty-five minute drive away."

"What's this man's name?" Jeanne asked, pointing at the man who she needed to know.

"Anthony DiNozzo."

**XXX**

"Hey, Gibbs!" Abby exclaimed, smiling widely. "Have any plans for this Friday?"

"No," Gibbs replied evenly, dropping a Caf-Pow beside her. "Got anything, Abs?"

"My babies don't work _that_ fast, Gibbs," Abby said, clicking a few letters on her keyboard. "But back to your Friday plans."

"Abs, I'm not going to a Brain Guts concert!"

Abby turned to face him. "Okay, first, it's Brain Matter, not Brain Guts."

"Same thing," Gibbs muttered.

Abby ignored his comment. "And second, I had reservations to this really nice restaurant on Friday, but I'm busy."

"So?"

"Sooooo, I thought you could take the director to the restaurant. Wouldn't want to waste those reservations."

"What about Tyler?"

"I'm all open for babysitting," Abby said, smiling.

"I thought you said you were busy?" Gibbs pointed out, raising an eyebrow at her.

Abby's eyes widened. "Uh, right, whoops. Then, uh… I'm sure Ziva would be happy to take him for the night. You can pick him up the next morning. Besides, it'd be good for you to take some time off every once in a while. You know, get away from the kids and all." Abby put on her best pouting face. "Please, Gibbs?"

Gibbs gave her a glare. She just pouted out her lip even more.

"Pretty pretty please with bourbon on top?" Abby asked.

Gibbs sighed. She had him twisted around her finger. "Fine, Abby—"

"YES!" Abby shouted, jumping up and down.

Gibbs rolled his eyes, walking out the door. "Call me when you get something," he called over his shoulder.

**XXX**

Tony unbuckled his seatbelt and opened up the door flinging himself out of the car. "LAND!" he shouted.

Ziva got out of the driver's side. "What's the matter, Tony?"

"What's the matter?" Tony repeated. "Your driving is the matter!"

"And what do you mean by that?" Ziva asked, glaring at him.

"Uh… nothing, of course," Tony said, getting up off of the ground.

Ziva's cellphone started ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket and flipped it open. "David," she answered.

"Ziva, it's Abby. You got plans Friday?"

"No, I—"

"Good, because you're on babysitting duty," Abby said.

Ziva's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"You're babysitting Tyler Friday night and Gibbs and the director will pick him up on Saturday."

"Why me?"

"Because I volunteered you."

"Why can't you do it?"

"Look, it's a long story and I _promise_ to tell you later, but I have to go before Gibbs appears and hears me talking on the phone."

"Abby, I don't understand—"

"Just pick Tyler up at, like, 6:30 or something this Friday. Okay? Gotta go, bye!"

The dial tone sounded in Ziva's ear. She pulled the phone away and gave it a puzzled look before shutting it and putting it back in her pocket.

"What was that all about?" Tony asked.

"Apparently I'm babysitting this Friday."

**XXX**

"Thank you," Ziva said to the man she had just finished getting information from. She looked over to see Tony talking to a woman with reddish-brown hair and bright blue eyes. Rolling her eyes, she set off towards him. "Tony!" she called out.

He turned around. "Oh, hey, Ziva," he said, smiling. He turned to the woman. "This is my partner, Ziva."

Ziva gave a fake smile as she shook the woman's hand. "Hello."

"Hi," the woman said. She turned to Tony. "So… see you later?"

Tony smiled. "Sure thing." The woman threw him a flirtatious smile before walking off.

Ziva reached up and slapped the back of Tony's head.

"Ow!" he cried out. "What was that for?"

"We are supposed to be here for _investigating_, not picking up girls!"

"Hey, she's the one that came up to me," Tony defended. "She actually had some stuff for us, too." He held up his notepad. "Then, _she's_ the one that asked me out for dinner on Friday. It wasn't me this time."

"I bet you don't even know her name."

"Yeah I do!"

"What is it, then?"

"Jeanne Russell."

**A/N: I admit, I borrowed Tony's line "LAND!" from the movie **_**The Pacifier**_**. Haven't seen that movie in forever… Anyway, again, thank you all SO MUCH for the reviews! It brings sunshine to my heart all the time. :] Special sneak peek about next chapter: it's titled "The Date" and there is lots of Jibbsy fluff. :D **


	11. The Date

**To clear up some trouble: I know it seems a bit dramatic for Kurt to be putting Jeanne on a mission just because their father was killed, but that's kind of what Jenny did with Tony, even if Grenouille was an arms dealer to start with. Plus I had a request to put Jeanne in and this is the best idea I came up with. It's all suspenseful and dramatic and whatnot. Thanks to **Levana Fay** for also pointing out the mistake at the end of the previous chapter (before I fixed it). Again, school got in the way of this chapter. Actually, it was a mixture of school and volleyball.**

**And now, for the long awaited chapter...**

**Chapter Eleven: The Date**

"And you said _yes_?" Jenny asked.

"What was I supposed to do?" Gibbs asked. "Abby had that whole pouty face going on—"

"And you can't resist it, I know," Jenny finished for him. She sighed. "What about Tyler?"

"Ziva's got him for the night."

Jenny glared at him before sighing once more. "Fine, we can go."

Gibbs hid back a smile. "Great. So, Friday at seven."

"Friday it is."

**XXX**

Jenny glanced at her watch. It was 6:00. Time to go get ready for this 'date' that Gibbs was taking her out on. Just as she was shutting down her computer and packing up her stuff, a knock came at her door. "Come in," Jenny said.

The door opened and Cynthia, Ziva, and Abby came through the door carrying bags.

"Abby… I thought you had plans for something?" Jenny asked, raising her eyebrows.

"This is more important. Besides, they uh… don't start till, like, 7 or so," Abby said.

"What are you all doing here?"

"Helping you get ready, of course," Ziva said.

"Where's Tyler?" Jenny asked, wondering why her son wasn't currently with Ziva.

"Down in autopsy with the boys."

Cynthia opened up the large bag she was carrying. She pulled out a long, deep purple dress. "For you, Director."

Jenny's eyes widened. She reached out and touched the dress. "What…?"

"We're helping you get ready!" Abby squealed. "C'mon, it'll be fun!"

"Yeah… fun…"

**XXX**

"What do ya need, Duck?" Gibbs asked as he entered autopsy. "I've gotta date to get ready for." He stopped when he saw Tony, McGee, and Tyler standing with Ducky. The three adults were looking at him with serious looks while Tyler was playing a video game. "Duck… what's going on?"

"We're helping you get ready, of course," Ducky said. "You never really were one to get ready in the right attire. Anthony was nice enough to donate one of his fancier suits and Armani ties."

"What?"

Tony gave him a look. "Face it, Boss. You need fashion help."

Gibbs just glared at him. For once, Tony wasn't affected by it.

"Not that your everyday apparel isn't nice," McGee added. "It's just your formal… not that we're trying to insinuate anything, boss, no, not at all, we just—"

"Hey, McTalksALot, zip it," Tony said.

Gibbs squinted his eyes a little, tilting his head. "Lemme get this straight… you don't like the way I dress, so you're dressing me up?"

Tyler looked up from his game. "We're gonna make you all pretty for Mommy! Tony said that you were going to look so handsome that you and Mommy would skip dinner and head straight for the bedro—"

Tony placed his hand over Tyler's mouth, silencing him. "Shh," he commanded. "Our little secret," he whispered. Tyler nodded in acknowledgement.

**XXX (6:55)**

"I think the hair needs a little more spray," Abby said.

Ziva nodded. She grabbed the bottle of hair spray and sprayed a little bit more onto Jenny's hair, which was put up in intricate curls, some which loosely framed her face.

The door opened and Cynthia walked back in. "The men are all down in the squad room waiting. Are we almost done?"

Jenny looked at herself in the mirror. She really did like what the other girls had done to her. The purple dress accentuated her form perfectly, the sleeves hanging off her shoulders. Her hair was sure to knock Gibbs off his feet. "I think we're all ready." She grabbed her matching purse and started walking towards the door.

"Wait!" Abby called out. She held out a necklace. "I got this for you."

Jenny took the heart shaped locket in her hands. She opened it up and felt her breath catch. On one side of the heart was a picture of Tyler, and on the other side there was a picture of Jenny, Gibbs, and Tyler all sleeping in a bed. It was probably the same one that Noemi had taken that one morning.

"Abby… I don't know what to say," Jenny said, smiling at the Goth. "It's absolutely beautiful." She pulled Abby into a tight hug. "Thank you, Abby."

"You're welcome," Abby said, smiling widely. "I thought you'd like it." She helped Jenny get it on.

"All set now?" Cynthia asked.

Jenny nodded and took a deep breath before walking out the door.

**XXX**

"Here she comes," Ducky said.

Gibbs turned around and froze in his spot. Jenny was coming down the staircase in a dark purple dress that rested lightly off her shoulders and looked amazing on her. He felt his mouth drop a little when he saw her hair curled just the way he liked it. She wore little jewelry; Just a heart-shaped necklace and a simple pair of earrings.

Jenny stopped in front of Gibbs and smiled. "Ready?"

Gibbs managed to nod, hiding the fact that he was staring at her still. "Yeah."

"Have fun!" Abby called out as they got onto the elevator.

Jenny smiled when the elevator doors closed. She turned to Gibbs. "Why are they all making a fuss on this simple dinner date of ours?"

Gibbs shrugged. "Abby's leading 'em. You know what happens when Abby becomes the leader."

Jenny let out a snort. "Yep." There was silence as the elevator doors opened up to the parking garage, where Melvin was waiting with Jenny's town car.

He opened up the door. "Ma'am, Special Agent Gibbs," he addressed.

"Thank you, Melvin," Jenny said, throwing him a smile before getting into the car. Gibbs gave him a small glare before joining Jenny.

The door closed and Jenny let out a sigh. "I wonder how many pools are running on this."

Gibbs let out a small laugh. "Good question."

They sat in a comfortable silence for the next ten minutes till they arrived at the restaurant. The door opened and Gibbs got out, holding out his hand to help Jenny out.

"Have a good time, ma'am," Melvin said.

"Thanks, Melvin," Jenny said.

Gibbs and Jenny walked up to the front desk.

"We have reservations under the name 'Abby Sciuto'," Gibbs said.

The woman there looked down the list and gave a short nod. "Yep. Right this way, please." She grabbed two menus and walked briskly to the outside part of the restaurant. She set down the menus at one of the few tables on the small deck. "Here we are. Your waitress tonight will be Audrey."

"Thank you," Jenny said, throwing her a smile as the woman departed.

A couple minutes later, a young woman came over. "Hello, I'm Audrey and I'll be your server tonight. Can I start you off with any drinks?"

"A bottle of wine, please," Gibbs said.

"Sure thing," Audrey said, walking off to fetch the wine.

"Wine?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah," Gibbs replied.

"What, no bourbon?"

"We can have bourbon anytime we want to at home. I figured we should change up our alcoholic drink of the night for tonight."

Jenny smiled. "You are a strange man."

Audrey arrived with the wine bottle in her hand. "Here you go." She placed it down. "Can I start you off with any appetizers?"

"I think we'll skip the appetizers for tonight," Jenny said.

"Okay, then. Are you all set to order dinner?"

Gibbs looked at Jenny, who nodded. "Yeah, I guess. I'll have a steak, rare."

"And what would like for a side?" Audrey asked.

"Rice."

Audrey jotted down his order on her notepad. She turned to Jenny. "And you, ma'am?"

"The steak au poivre with grilled asparagus on the side," Jenny said.

"Okie-dokie," Audrey said, taking the menus. "I'll go put in your orders." She walked off towards the kitchen.

Gibbs nodded at her, looking around at the people around him and Jenny. There were only a couple other tables occupied. Each one had a couple on it that were clearly either married or dating. Gibbs turned to Jenny and saw she had her Blackberry out and was dialing a number.

"Jen, what are you doing?"

"I'm calling Ziva," Jenny said, pressing the talk button.

Gibbs grabbed the phone and pressed the end button. "Jen, he's fine. Ziva will kill anyone that tries to hurt him. You know that. Just… relax tonight, okay?"

"But what if—"

"Jenny," Gibbs interrupted. "He'll be fine."

Jenny bit her lip. "Okay," she sighed.

Gibbs let out a sigh of relief. He then looked at the redhead. "Since when did your motherly instinct kick in?" he teased.

"Probably since I found out my son was alive. It tends to happen when you start raising a kid, too, you know."

He chuckled. "Yeah, I know."

They sat in silence for ten minutes, gazing around and avoiding each other's eyes.

"It's a beautiful view," Jenny commented, looking at the river that flowed by forty feet from them.

"Yep," Gibbs agreed.

"And it's a nice little restaurant."

"Uh-huh."

They continued exchanging small talk until Audrey arrived with their food. She set the food down and Jenny and Gibbs ate, all talking ceasing as their mouths were filled up with food. Audrey came back with the bill and Gibbs, being the gentleman he is, paid for it.

"Thank you, have a nice night," Audrey said.

"You, too," Jenny replied.

She grabbed her purse and headed with Gibbs out the door and towards the awaiting town car, getting into it.

"Where to now, ma'am?" Melvin asked.

"Home," Jenny said.

"Okay."

Jenny rested her head against the back of the seat, sighing with fatigue. Gibbs wrapped his hand around hers, squeezing it comfortingly. She gave him a smile in return. Gibbs realized this was a bad time to notice how pretty her eyes were…

"Here we are," Melvin announced.

"Thank you, Melvin. You have a great weekend," Jenny said. "Tell Martha and the kids 'hi' for me."

"Sure thing, ma'am."

Gibbs held out his hand for her as she stepped out of the car. She shut the door behind her and the town car sped off.

"What the—?" Gibbs started as he turned around. Jenny turned around as well and both their faces had confused looks on them. "Why are we at the beach?"

It was true; Melvin had dropped them off at the local beach, not the Georgetown house they had intended on going to.

"Abby," Gibbs muttered, closing his eyes and sighing.

"I'm calling a cab," Jenny said, opening up her purse and searching through the contents of it for her cellphone.

"Wait," Gibbs said, putting his hand on hers. She ignored the shiver that went up her spine. "Since we're here… you wanna go for a walk?"

Jenny looked at him and then shrugged. "Sure."

Gibbs held out his arm and she took it. He led her down to the edge of the water.

"One sec," she said. She held onto his arm with one hand while the other took off her heel. She did the same to the other heel, chucking them about ten feet from where the edge of the water was so they wouldn't get hit by the waves. Gibbs sighed and took off his shoes and socks, chucking them a foot away from Jenny's.

The two started to walk along the edge of the dark water. The moon shone brightly, reflecting off the small waves. The cold water lapped at Jenny's toes and she let out an involuntary squeal, clinging onto Gibbs to get away from it. He chuckled.

"Afraid of the water, Jen?" he teased, a smile spreading across his face.

"No, but it's freezing!" she said, turning to face him with an identical smile on her face. She suddenly realized how close they were and took a step back.

She then continued walking, oblivious to the fact that Gibbs wasn't following her. All at once, her vision was blocked by a hand over her eyes. She stiffened, but relaxed when she heard the familiar heavy breathing of Gibbs. She allowed herself to smile again. The hand was taken off her eyes and her vision was replaced with that of a pink orchid.

"Where'd you get this?" she asked, turning to face him.

"Out of my hat," he replied deadpan. She gave him a look and he tilted his head towards where a small bed of flowers was located, consisting of orchids, roses, and daisies.

"Thank you," she said softly.

A breeze fell over them and she shivered slightly. He took of his jacket and set it on her shoulders.

"Must we be so cliche?" he asked.

Jenny stuck her tongue out in response. He just chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She felt a blush creeping up her neck as warmth spread through her at his touch.

"It's really pretty," Jenny commented, stopping to look up at the bright moon shining down.

"Yeah."

"Has a kind of… romantic touch to it."

He looked down at her to see her cheeks reddening and her eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Kinda does," he said, turning towards her with his hands going towards her waist.

"Makes you think you're in a movie or something," she added, tilting her head.

"Or something," he repeated, leaning down and placing his lips on hers.

**A/N: Oops… didn't mean to write a cliffhanger.. .whoops… and, uh… sorry if it's a bit OOC. This chapter was made over the course of the last month, and at times, things got a little hectic because my dad's work is now taking us up north, so we have to move all the way up to New York. Which means less time for writing fanfictions. :( But nonetheless, please review now! :]**


	12. The Plan Worked

…**yeah… sorry 'bout not updating as much. I have more free time because volleyball is done, but then again, I might not have free time because school is being all RAWR and stuff, but what's new? Plus, my family and I are STILL settling into our new house. :\**

**Chapter Twelve: The**

Gibbs woke up to the shrill ring of his cellphone. He grunted, lifting his head off of the pillow and unraveling his arms from the warm body, his head not fully functioning yet. He grabbed his phone off of the nightstand and flipped it open.

"Gibbs," he barked into it, looking up at the ceiling.

"Hello, Gibbs," the voice, which Gibbs recognized as Ziva's, said.

"Ziva, what's up?"

"I was wondering what time you would like me to bring Tyler back."

"What?"

"I said I was wondering what time you wanted me to bring Tyler back. Remember? I took Tyler for the night so that you and the director could have a peaceful night to yourselves," Ziva said. "He is a very intelligent kid, Gibbs. He beat me by at least a hundred points in Scrabble—"

Gibbs stopped listening, looking to his right and seeing the sleeping and naked form of Jenny lying there. He finally remembered all the events from the night before.

"Right, Ziva, uh… how about at two o'clock?"

"Very well. See you later, then. Goodbye."

Gibbs flipped the phone shut, chucking it back onto the nightstand. He inched forward and wrapped his arm around Jenny's waist, pulling her closer to him. She stirred and placed her hands on top of his, sinking into his embrace.

"Morning," Gibbs said softly in her ear.

She peaked open one eye and turned her head so she was looking at him. She opened her other eye and smiled at him, turning in his embrace so that she was facing him. She gave him a long, tender kiss.

"Good morning," she said when she pulled back.

"We're kidless until two," he said, a suggestive tone in his voice.

Jenny let a sigh. "Whatever shall we do until then?"

Gibbs gave a small smile, softly kissing a trail down her jaw. "I have a couple of ideas."

**XXX**

Tyler looked over at Ziva. "You lost again, Ziva!"

Ziva bit back a snort. "Yes, I did."

"Haven't you ever played chess before?"

Ziva nodded. "I used to play chess against your mother every day when we were working together and had nothing better to do. She used to beat me all the time. Obviously, that is a trait that you got from her."

Tyler looked down at his hands, twitching them a little nervously. "Ziva?"

"Yes?"

"Are Mommy and Daddy ever gonna get back together?"

Ziva looked at him, a curious and thoughtful look on her face. "I do not know, Tyler. They have a very… complicated relationship."

"Mommy said that Daddy never hurt her at all but she left him, kind of like how divorce is. But they live together and they're always there when I need them. My friend Kyle said he lives with his mommy sometimes but then the next week he lives with his daddy. He never get to see his parents at the same time anymore. I see my mommy and daddy everyday, but they're not together. Do you think they'll ever get back together?"

Ziva shrugged. "I do not know," she repeated. "But I have the feeling they will someday."

"You do?"

"Yes, I do. I know for a fact that your mommy loves your daddy very much, and your daddy loves her just as much. Love is a very powerful emotion, Tyler. Some day they'll figure out just how much they love each other and then they'll be together again."

Tyler looked at the chessboard in front of him while he talked. "Abby says that she's gonna get them together one way or another. She calls them Mommy and Daddy, too. Is Abby my sister?"

Ziva gave a small laugh. "No, not biologically. You know how you were adopted by Roger and Alison?" Tyler nodded. "It's kind of like that for Abby. Gibbs and Jenny are like her adoptive parents."

"Did her parents die?"

"I believe so. I also know that they were deaf, and that while she did love them very much, she couldn't interact with them the same way normal families do. Gibbs is now like her father-figure, much like Jenny is her mother-figure."

Tyler looked up at her. "Can you tell Mommy and Daddy that I want a brother?"

Ziva held back a laugh. "A brother?"

"Yeah, a brother. I want a baby brother."

"What about a baby sister?"

Tyler shook his head. "I don't want a sister. I wanna brother."

Ziva gave an understanding nod. "Okay, then. I will… tell your parents when I drop you off this afternoon. But I think that you should also tell them, just in case they do not listen to me."

Tyler nodded. "Okay!" He looked back at the chessboard. "Wanna get your butt kicked again in a game of chess?"

"Sure," Ziva said, chuckling. "You know, you are starting to sound just like your father."

**XXX**

Abby smiled with delight when the door opened up to a sleepy looking Gibbs, his hair ruffled. He was standing clad in a gray t-shirt that was on inside-out and a pair of blue sweatpants that looked like they were on backwards.

"Something wrong, Abs?" he asked, immediately worried when he saw the Goth on his front door step.

"Did it work?" she asked excitedly.

"Did what work?" he asked, confused.

Abby sighed dramatically, pushing past him and into the large townhouse. "Spill it," she said. "How'd your date with the director go last night?"

Gibbs gave her a look. "It wasn't a date," he said.

"Oh yes it was," Abby said in a sing-song voice.

"No it wasn't. It was just a… casual night off from taking care of Tyler, and—"

Abby's smile spread even wider— if that was possible. "It did work, didn't it?"

"Abby, what the—?"

He was cut off by Abby squealing and throwing her arms around him. "I'm so happy for you two!"

"Abs, nothing happened, I swear."

Abby pulled away and gave him a look that said 'yeah, right'. "Really?" she asked. "Then why is your shirt inside out, hmm? Why are your pants on backwards? Why does your hair look like a certain redheads hands have been—"

"Jethro?" a tired voice sounded from the top of the stairs. "Who's at the door?" Jenny emerged in the doorway in a bathrobe, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Abby? What are you doing here?"

"Just dropping by to make sure you made it home safely," Abby lied smoothly. "I have to go finish unpacking the last of my boxes now. You two enjoy yourselves," she said suggestively. With that, she left.

"What was that about?" Jenny asked.

"I think she's on to us."

"I think she was 'on to us' when she set up last night."

**XXX**

"TIMMY!" Abby cried out when she burst through the door of their new house.

"What is it?" he asked, walking in from the kitchen. "Is something wron—"

Abby launched herself at him, hugging him tightly with her legs wrapped around his waist. "Timmy, Timmy, Timmy!"

McGee chuckled. "Abs, what is it?"

Abby pulled back to look at his face, a smile spread wide across hers. "I did it!"

"Did what?"

"I got them together!"

"Who? The director and Gibbs?"

Abby nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! This morning I went to go see them, and—"

"You said you were going to the store to get some Halloween decorations!" McGee said sternly.

"I lied," Abby said bluntly and guiltily.

"Abby, you can't just lie about where you're going," McGee said in an overprotective voice. "What if something had happened to you? What if someone needed your for something and you weren't where you said you'd be?"

"Timmy, it was only a little lie. It wasn't—"

"I know it was a little thing this time, but what about next time?" McGee sighed. "And to think I was going to ask you to— never mind."

"Ask me to what?" Abby asked, curious.

"Never mind, Abby," McGee said, walking back towards the kitchen.

Abby grabbed his arm. "What were you going to ask me?"

**A/N: How's that for an update? I know, there wasn't that much Jibbs, but there will be lots of Jibbs to come. :D Plus, do you like that cute moment with Ziva talking to Tyler? It was cute. :P Sorry for the cliffhanger once more, but I should update earlier next time. And a big THANKS for the reviews I got and please review now!**

**Oh, by the way, I have a couple of pictures on my Facebook (there's a link to my Facebook on my profile) that go along with this story if you wanna go check them out. They're public, so you should be able to see them. Let me know what you think! :]**


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